Air assist fuel injector for a combustor
AssigneeUnited Technologies Corporation
InventorsCharles B. Graves, Stephanie DeSalle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel injector system provides an air assist fuel nozzle which includes a fuel shroud and an air portion. Air passes around the fuel shroud to air jets in the air portion to provide a focused application of air directly onto a fuel spray from each of a multiple of main fuel jets to impart additional velocity to the fuel as it is flowing out of the fuel nozzle. The air jets increase the resulting fuel spray velocity to a level high enough to reach a prefilmer wall of a swirler even during snap deceleration conditions.
Claims16
A fuel injector comprising:
- a fuel nozzle which comprises a multiple of fuel jets and multiple of air jets, each of said air jets at least partially focused toward one of said fuel jets to direct an airflow from said fuel nozzle in a rotational direction, said fuel nozzle having a fuel shroud and an air shroud, said air shroud at least partially surrounds said fuel shroud.
A burner section of a gas turbine engine, comprising:
- a combustion chamber;
- a swirler located within said combustion chamber along an axis, said swirler imparts a rotation to an airflow adjacent a fuel nozzle in a first rotational direction;
- and
- a fuel injector mounted within said swirler along the axis, said fuel injector operable to supply fuel to said combustion chamber, said fuel injector comprising said fuel nozzle with a fuel jet and an air jet, said air jet at least partially focused toward said fuel jet to direct an airflow from said fuel nozzle in said first rotational direction.
A fuel nozzle, comprising:
- a pilot fuel jet disposed on a longitudinal central axis;
- a multiple of main fuel jets disposed off said central axis for dispensing fuel;
- and
- a multiple of air jets, disposed off said central axis, each of said air jets adjacent one of said multiple of said fuel jets for dispensing in a rotational direction about said central axis, wherein said air impinges upon said fuel to increase a velocity of said fuel.
A fuel injector comprising:
- a fuel nozzle including a fuel shroud and an air shroud, said air shroud at least partially surrounding said fuel shroud, said fuel shroud having a fuel jet and said air shroud having an air jet, said air jet at least partially focused towards said fuel jet, said air jet forming multiple elongated apertures through said air shroud.
A fuel injector comprising:
- a fuel nozzle having a fuel jet and an air jet, said air jet at least partially focused toward said fuel jet;
- and
- a swirler defined about said fuel nozzle, said swirler operable to impart a rotation to an airflow adjacent said fuel nozzle and a first rotational direction wherein said air jet directs an airflow from said fuel nozzle in said first rotational direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.