1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a combustor, and more particularly to a combustor having a casing having a cylindrical wall provided with an opening for compressed air; a liner being within said casing and having a further cylindrical wall at a distance from the casing wall, an outlet opening on one end and an inlet opening on the other end; and a single burner comprising a fuel injector, flame stabilization device and the hardware of the liner inlet (liner head).
2. Description of Related Art
A combustor is known from US-A-2010/0126174. This combustor includes: a flame tube having, in the direction of the flow, a mixing zone for mixing the fuel with air to form a fuel-air mixture, as well as a primary combustion zone and a post-primary combustion zone. At least one opening is being provided in the area of the mixing zone and in the area of the post-primary combustion zone in order to conduct compressed air into the flame tube. The supplied compressed air is used to cool the flame tube and passes, via the openings in the area of the mixing zone and in the area of the post-primary combustion zone, partly into the mixing zone and into the post-primary combustion zone.
Other combustors are known from US2009019855A1, US2010000218A1, US2010071377A1, WO 0075573A1. These combustors have main burners that require assistance from pilot burners to ensure stable and complete combustion, as well as reliable light-off at all operating conditions.
Yet another combustor is known from US2002148232A1, which has multiple burners. None of the individual burners is capable to ensure adequate combustion performance at all operating conditions. Different burners, also in different combinations, have to operate at different operating conditions.
A suitable combustion chamber for a recuperated micro gas turbine is challenged by the following factors:
It is an object of the present invention to provide a combustor which is optimized for:
To this end, the combustor according to the invention is characterized in that the relative position of the fuel injector and flame stabilization device in the burner is such that the burner stages first complete combustion of the fuel in the air through the air passages of the flame stabilization device where fuel is injected and then mixing with the air through the neighboring passages as such that NOx can never increase above single-digit ppm.
The fuel injector position relative to the flame stabilization device is chosen as to:
In the other words, the burner according to the invention stages first combustion of the fuel in the given part of the air and then mixing with the remaining air. In particular, combustion is complete and mixing occurs as such that NOx can never increase above single-digit ppm.
Preferably the fuel injector is present in the middle of the liner inlet opening, and the flame stabilization device is present in the inlet opening around the fuel injector and extends directly from the fuel injector to the boundary wall of the inlet opening.
An embodiment of the combustor according to the invention is characterized in that the flame stabilization device comprises two concentrically cylindrical rings and vanes extending in the radial direction from one ring to the other ring and being at an angle with the axial direction, wherein an air passage is present between two neighboring vanes of the flame stabilization device, and the geometry of the said rings, vanes and air passages result in a pressure loss over the flame stabilization device less than 1.5%.
This flame stabilization device has a swirl strength and air passage cross section as such that the pressure loss over the device is less than 1.5%. The pressure loss is dependent, among other parameters, on the geometry of the air passages, the flow rate and the flow density. The geometry of the air passages determines the swirl strength. Contrary to the common knowledge and experience, it has been established and confirmed experimentally that stable burning can be maintained in the combustor according to the invention even when the pressure loss is between 1% and 1.5%.
The flame stabilization device and the fuel injector form together with the liner inlet hardware a single burner, which guarantees both stable and complete combustion and low NOx at all operating regimes—steady state and transient. The same single burner guarantees reliable light-off at all conditions encountered in operation. This single burner is not assisted by any other burner.
A further embodiment of the combustor according to the invention is characterized in that the number of vanes in the flame stabilization device is such that only part of the air through the flame stabilization device can mix with fuel.
An air passage is present between each two neighboring vanes of the flame stabilization device. The fuel injector is provided with injection holes that inject fuel into a number of the air passages as such that the fuel is injected only in one passage from each set of two neighboring passages. Such fuel injection allows limited fuel-air mixing, where fuel is mixed with only part of the air. Due to this, the fuel-air mixture formed in the passages where fuel is injected is optimal for high stability of burning. However, high NOx levels can also form in the burned gases. Formation of high NOx levels is though prevented by quick mixing of these burned gases with the air that passes through the neighboring passages.
The invention further relates to a recuperated micro gas turbine comprising:
The invention further relates to a method for operating a gas turbine according to the invention, which is characterized in that the temperature of gases coming from the turbine is kept constant at the recuperator inlet. By this, the flame stabilization is improved at part-load operating points where the shaft power is less than at the base-load operating point. This improvement is realized by limiting reduction in the fuel-air ratio associated with modulation of the gas turbine from the base load to part load.
There is a great potential for employing micro gas turbines in an electrical power range from 1 kWe to 5 kWe. In particular, micro gas turbines are environmentally and cost effective for distributed power and/or heat and/or cooling generation in households, hotels, farms, restaurants, offices, etc., as well as for vehicular applications.
The recuperated micro gas turbine according to the invention can be for:
The invention will be further elucidated below on the basis of drawings. These drawings show an embodiment of the combustor, combustor burner and recuperated micro gas turbine according to the invention. In the drawings:
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Although the present invention is elucidated above on the basis of the given drawings, it should be noted that this invention is not limited whatsoever to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The invention also extends to all embodiments deviating from the embodiments shown in the drawings within the context defined by the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005381 | Sep 2010 | NL | national |
This application for a utility patent is a continuation of a previously filed utility patent, now abandoned, having the application number PCT/NL2011/050636, file 20 Sep. 2011. This application for a utility patent also claims the benefit of Netherlands application NL2005381, filed 21 Sep. 2010.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/NL2011/050636 | Sep 2011 | US |
Child | 13848276 | US |