Convectively cooled, single stage, fully premixed controllable fuel/air combustor with tangential admission

A process for operating a gas turbine gas generator module to lower NO.sub.X and unburned fuel and fuel by-products, the gas generator module for supplying hot combustion gases to means for a producing power, the module of the type having a cylindrical housing with an axis and defining a combustion chamber, the housing having at least one inlet port proximate one axial housing end, the chamber portion adjacent the one axial housing end comprising a combustion zone, and an exhaust port and at least one aperture proximate the other axial housing end, the chamber portion adjacent the other axial housing end comprising a dilution zone, the module also of the type having a spool including an air compressor, a turbine, and shaft means interconnecting the turbine and the air compressor, the process comprising the steps of:

• supplying compressed air flow from the air compressor and fuel flow to the vicinity of the housing;
• continuously premixing all the fuel flow with a portion of the compressed air flow outside the housing and injecting the resulting substantially non-swirling fuel/air mixture into the combustion zone through the housing inlet port in a direction to provide swirling combustion about the housing axis;
• admitting the remainder of the compressed air flow to the dilution zone through the aperture;
• and
• controlling fuel flow rate in accordance with the desired power level and permitting turbine speed and compressor speed to adjust accordingly, said compressed air flow changing in accordance with the compressor speed, so that a substantially constant fuel/air ratio is maintained over substantially the entire operating range of the gas generator module.