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US 5,396,760 AGranted
Gas-side bypass flow system for the air recuperator of a gas turbine engine
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorWilliam R. Hines
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorWilliam R. Hines
Estimating the term…
A bypass flow system for a gas-side air recuperator of a gas turbine engine. Pressurized air from the compressor section of the gas turbine is caused to pass through a pair of heat exchangers arranged in parallel spaced relationship and located in the hot gas stream between the exhaust gas box and the exhaust stack of the gas turbine engine. The space between the heat exchangers comprises a bypass duct for the exhaust gases and is openable and closeable by a butterfly valve. The longitudinal edges of the bypass duct are each provided with a flow divider device extending upstream of the exhaust gas flow by a distance at least equal to the width of the bypass duct. The flow divider devices are mirror images of each other and the forwardmost longitudinal edges thereof are blunt. The inner facing surfaces of the flow divider devices are configured to provide a two dimensional bellmouth entrance to the bypass duct, and the opposite surfaces of the flow divider devices are configured as controlled diffusion surfaces.
A gas-side bypass flow system for an air recuperator of a gas turbine engine, said gas turbine engine comprising a compressor section, a combustor section, and a turbine section followed by a free wheeling power turbine, said gas turbine engine having an exhaust gas emitting end, said recuperator being located in a path of said exhaust gas and comprising a pair of heat exchangers in parallel spaced relationship, a bypass duct being located between said heat exchangers and having longitudinal sides and ends, an inlet opening and an outlet opening for said bypass duct, means for opening and closing said bypass duct, and a flow divider associated with each of said bypass duct longitudinal sides for providing said inlet opening of said bypass duct with an orifice flow coefficient of about 0.99, wherein each of said flow dividers comprises an extension of its respective bypass duct longitudinal wall upstream of the flow of said exhaust gas by a distance at least equivalent to the width of said bypass duct.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.