The present invention relates to a fuel/air mixer for a combustor and more particularly to a focused application of air directly on the fuel spray as it is flowing out of a fuel injector to increase the transport of fuel spray during engine snap deceleration conditions.
One goal in the design of combustors, such as those used in gas turbine engines of high performance aircraft, is to minimize the amount of smoke produced by the combustion process in the gas turbine engine. For military aircraft in particular, smoke production creates a “signature” which may increase aircraft visibility.
Another objective in the design of combustors for high performance aircraft is to maximize the “static stability” of a combustor. The term “static stability” refers to the ability to initiate the combustion process at high airflows and low fuel flow during a rapid deceleration of the engine.
Leaning out the fuel/air mixture in the combustor minimizes smoke production, while static stability is increased by enriching the fuel/air mixture. Applicant has addressed the competing goals with a fuel injector design with an outer recirculation zone flame stabilization arrangement. Although effective, flame stability in such a fuel injector may still be relatively sensitive during snap deceleration conditions. Snap deceleration is of particular interest to the performance of military aircraft.
Spray transport is important to the operation of a fuel injector design intended for outer recirculation zone flame stabilization. Fuel is injected from a pressure atomizing fuel nozzle and reaches a prefilmer wall by one of two mechanisms. The first is a centrifuge mechanism. Large drops in a rotating environment are slung outboard to the prefilmer wall.
A second mechanism is from velocity of the fuel itself. This fuel velocity typically results from the pressure available in the fuel system.
Conventional fuel injector systems may not provide sufficient spray transport across an inner passage airflow to reach the prefilmer wall under snap deceleration conditions as droplet sizes may be too small for effective centrifuge action to take place in the space available. Furthermore, there may be insufficient pressure drop across the fuel injector tip to provide sufficient velocity to traverse the inner passage at the fuel flow common to snap deceleration conditions. Such conventional fuel nozzle systems may thus suffer a loss in flame stability during snap deceleration conditions.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a fuel injector system that minimizes the amount of smoke production while maximizing stability even under snap deceleration conditions.
The fuel injector system according to the present invention provides an air assist fuel nozzle which includes a fuel shroud and an air portion. The fuel shroud defines a multiple of main fuel jets disposed off of a central axis. An air jet is located adjacent each of the main fuel jets.
Air passes around the fuel shroud to the air jets to provide a focused application of air directly onto the fuel spray from each of the main fuel jets to impart additional velocity to the fuel as it is flowing out of the fuel nozzle. The air jets provide an increased pressure drop across a swirler to mix with the fuel from the main fuel jets and increase the resulting fuel spray velocity to a level high enough to reach a prefilmer wall of the swirler even during snap deceleration.
Generally, the fuel jets and the air jets are arranged to: focus each air jet on a respective fuel jet; complement the air swirl of the swirler; provide initial interaction between air and fuel within a sheltered region to ensure effective momentum exchange; provide a sufficiently high momentum air jet to impart enough momentum to the fuel from the fuel jet to increase the fuel velocity and traverse the swirler inner passage; provide the air jet wide enough to overlap the fuel jet; and provide fuel nozzle external contours which are cleared away so that fuel does not attach to fuel nozzle surfaces and lose the momentum imparted by the air.
When the air assist fuel nozzle is combined with an outer recirculation zone stabilized swirler substantially lower fuel flow is required prior to the potential for a lean blowout condition in comparison to a conventional pressure atomizing nozzle and swirler combination.
The present invention therefore provides a fuel injector system which minimizes the amount of smoke production while maximizing stability even under snap deceleration conditions.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the currently preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows:
Referring to
The annular combustor 28 includes an inner liner 34, an outer liner 36, and a dome 38 joining the inner liner 34 and the outer liner 36 at an upstream end. A cavity 40 formed between the inner liner 34 and the outer liner 36 defines a combustion chamber.
The fuel injectors 30 are preferably mounted to the dome 38. The fuel injectors 30 provide fuel and air to the cavity 40 for combustion therein. The inner liner 34 and the outer liner 36 typically provide combustion holes 42 and dilution holes 44 which introduce secondary air into the cavity 40. Guide vanes 46 at the downstream end of the combustion chamber define the entrance to the high pressure turbine 20 (
The expansion of the flow past the dome 38 and into the combustion chamber, along with the swirl created by the fuel injector 30, creates toroidal recirculation zones. Preferably, an outer recirculation zone OZ and an inner recirculation zone IZ provide hot combustion products upstream to mix with the uncombusted flow entering the combustion chamber. The hot combustion products provide a continuous ignition source for the fuel spray exiting the fuel injectors 30.
The engine 10 operates at a wide variety of power levels and the fuel injectors 30 control fuel flow to meet these varied fuel demands. At high power levels, which create the greatest demand for fuel, the fuel injectors 30 will supply the most amount of fuel to the engine 10. Conversely, the fuel injectors 30 supply the least amount of fuel to the engine 10 at low power levels, such as at engine start, idle and snap deceleration.
Referring to
The fuel nozzle 48 further includes an air assist which imparts additional velocity to the fuel F as will be further described below. Such additional velocity is particular important during snap deceleration conditions.
The fuel nozzle 48 is located within a bearing plate 50 which is typically attached adjacent the dome 38 of the combustor 28 (
A prefilmer wall 58 of the generally conical wall 54 operates as a prefilmer which, due to the swirling effect in the inner passage 56, causes the fuel spray to be centrifuged to the prefilmer wall 58 where it forms into a film that is moved axially toward the discharge end and into the combustor. The outer radial swirler 53 is concentrically disposed relative to the inner radial swirler 52 and defines the outer passage 60. Each of the radial swirlers 52, 53 include circumferentially spaced vanes 62, 64, respectively, which form vane passages. It should be understood that although a particular fuel injector arrangement is disclosed in the illustrated embodiment, other arrangements will benefit from the instant invention.
Referring to
Referring to
The fuel shroud 65 defines a pilot fuel jet 66 along the axis A and a multiple of main fuel jets 68 disposed off of the axis A and in a radial arrangement about the pilot fuel jet 66. The pilot fuel jet 66 receives fuel from a pilot fuel circuit while the multiple of main fuel jets 68 receive fuel from the main-fuel circuit (
An air jet 70 is located adjacent each of the main fuel jets 68 (
Referring to
Generally, the fuel jets 68 and the air jets 70 are arranged to: focus each air jet on a respective fuel jet; complement the air swirl of the swirler 49; provide initial interaction between air and fuel within a sheltered region to ensure effective momentum exchange; provide a sufficiently large air jet to impart enough momentum to the fuel from the fuel jet 68 to increase the fuel velocity and traverse the swirler inner passage 56 (
Referring to
Referring to
Preferably, the air portion 74 includes a multiple of elongated apertures 80 which provide sufficient clearance for the combined fuel-air spray to pass. The elongated apertures 80 permit fuel spray from each of the main fuel jets 77 to minimize contact with the air portion 74 such that the resulting fuel spray reaches the prefilmer wall 58 (
Referring to
The foregoing description is exemplary rather than defined by the limitations within. Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. The preferred embodiments of this invention have been disclosed, however, one of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that certain modifications would come within the scope of this invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described. For that reason the following claims should be studied to determine the true scope and content of this invention.
This invention was made with government support under Contract No.: N0019-02-C-3003. The government therefore has certain rights in this invention.