Patent Application
20130043324
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to fuel nozzles and, more specifically, to flow adjustment orifice systems for fuel nozzles.
Gas turbines can utilize fuel nozzles to direct the flow of air and/or fuel for combustion. Exemplary air and/or fuel combustion components can include compressed air, gas, oil and other combustible fuels. These air and/or fuel combustion components may be directed from their original source, through the fuel nozzle, and into a combustion area where the air and/or fuel is ultimately combusted. This combustion may then drive the rotation of the gas turbine during its operation.
When the air and/or fuel is directed through the fuel nozzle, it may pass through one or more orifices, channels, segments and/or other types of pathways. Thus, the dimensions of these pathways, such as the open cross-sectional area for an air/fuel inlet orifice, may assist in controlling the amount of air and/or fuel that passes through the fuel nozzle for combustion. However, these various pathways may wear over time due to, for example, the air/fuel itself passing there through, the overall operating conditions of the fuel nozzle, or various other elemental conditions such as foreign particulates or abrasions. The wearing of the pathways may in turn affect the amount of air and/or fuel passing through the fuel nozzle and potentially result in a non-uniform or excessive combustion. For example, when an air/fuel inlet orifice becomes worn, it may have a greater open cross-sectional area than originally designed and result in an excess of air/fuel passing through the fuel nozzle for combustion. While additional material may be added to worn fuel nozzles (e.g., via welding) to return the worn fuel nozzles to their original size and shape, such processes may be labor intensive and difficult to accomplish with consistent precision.
Accordingly, alternative flow adjustment orifice systems for fuel nozzles and metered fuel nozzles incorporating the same would be welcome in the art.
In one embodiment, a flow adjustment orifice system for a fuel nozzle is disclosed. The flow adjustment orifice system can include a metering plate that connects to an air/fuel inlet end of a fuel nozzle and a plurality of metering orifices disposed about the metering plate. The plurality of metering orifices can align with a plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices on the air/fuel inlet end of the fuel nozzle so that at least one of the plurality of metering orifices reduces an open cross-sectional area for at least one of the air/fuel inlet orifices.
In another embodiment, a flow adjustment orifice system for a fuel nozzle is disclosed. The flow adjustment orifice system can include a first metering plate having a first plurality of metering orifices that align with a first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices on an air/fuel inlet end of a fuel nozzle. At least one of the first plurality of metering orifices can thereby reduce an open cross-sectional area for at least one of the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices. The flow adjustment orifice system can further include a second metering plate having a second plurality of metering orifices that align with a second plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices on the air/fuel inlet end of the fuel nozzle. At least one of the second plurality of metering orifices can reduce a second open cross-sectional area for at least one of the second plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices.
In yet another embodiment a metered fuel nozzle for metered air/fuel inlet flow is disclosed. The metered fuel nozzle can include a first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices disposed on an air/fuel inlet end of the metered fuel nozzle and a first metering ring connected to the air/fuel inlet end of the metered fuel nozzle. The metered fuel nozzle can further include a first plurality of metering orifices disposed about the first metering ring in alignment with first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices such that at least one of the first plurality of metering orifices reduces an open cross-sectional area for at least one of the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices.
These and additional features provided by the embodiments discussed herein will be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the drawings.
The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature and not intended to limit the inventions defined by the claims. The following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:
One or more specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.
When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present invention, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements.
Flow adjustment orifice systems for fuel nozzles disclosed herein generally comprise at least one metering plate (e.g., a ring) containing a plurality of metering orifices that alight with a plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices on the air/fuel inlet end of the fuel nozzle. By connecting the at least one metering plate to the fuel nozzle, the plurality of metering orifices can reduce the open cross-sectional area of one or more of the plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices to meter the amount of air and/or fuel that can flow there through. The ability to reduce the open cross-sectional area of one or more of the air/fuel inlet orifices using the flow adjustment orifice system can return the amount of air and/or fuel that flows through a worn fuel nozzle to the original levels.
Referring now to
The air/fuel mixture can combust in a chamber within the combustor 12, thereby creating hot pressurized exhaust gases. The combustor 12 directs the exhaust gases through a turbine 28 toward an exhaust outlet 30. As the exhaust gases pass through the turbine 28, the gases can force one or more turbine blades to rotate a shaft 32 along an axis of the turbine system 10. As illustrated, the shaft 32 may be connected to various components of the turbine system 10, including a compressor 34. The compressor 34 can also include blades that may be coupled to the shaft 32. As the shaft 32 rotates, the blades within the compressor 34 also rotate, thereby compressing air from an air intake 36 through the compressor 34 and into the fuel nozzles 14 and/or combustor 12. More specifically, a first compressed air stream 38 may be directed into the first group of fuel nozzles 16, a second compressed air stream 40 may be directed into the second group of fuel nozzles 18, and a third compressed air stream 42 may be directed into the third group of fuel nozzles 20. The shaft 32 may also be connected to a load 44, which may be a vehicle or a stationary load, such as an electrical generator in a power plant or a propeller on an aircraft, for example. The load 44 may include any suitable device capable of being powered by the rotational output of turbine system 10. In addition, the turbine system 10 may include a controller 46 configured to control the first, second, and third fuel supply streams 22, 24, 26 into the first, second, and third groups of fuel nozzles 16, 18, and 20, respectively. More specifically, the first, second, and third fuel supply streams 22, 24, 26 may be controlled independently from each other by the controller 46.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Once the fuel nozzle 14 is connected to the combustor head end 52, the one or more air/fuel paths 70 and 80 can receive and direct the flow of air and/or fuel from the air/fuel inlet end 15 and through the fuel nozzle 14 for subsequent combustion. The one or more air/fuel paths 70 and 80 can thereby comprise any pathway or pathways that receive air and/or fuel from one end of the fuel nozzle 14 (e.g., about the fuel nozzle base surface 62) and directs it towards the other end of the fuel nozzle 14 for combustion.
For example, as illustrated in
In some embodiments, such as that illustrated in
Still referring to
In embodiments comprising a plurality of air/fuel paths 70 and 80, the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 and the second plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 86 may be concentric such that the plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 and 86 form a series of rings (as illustrated in
Referring now to
With reference to a single (first) metering plate 110, the metering plate 110 can connect to an air/fuel inlet end 15 of the fuel nozzle 14 (e.g., on the fuel nozzle base surface 62) such that the plurality of metering orifices 111 on the metering plate 110 can align with the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 of the first air/fuel path 70 in the fuel nozzle 14. In some embodiments, such as that illustrated in
The metering plate 110 of the flow adjustment orifice system 100 further comprises the plurality of metering orifices 111. The plurality of metering orifices 111 can each comprise an open pathway through the metering plate 110 such that air and/or fuel may pass there through. Each of the plurality of metering orifices 111 can comprise a specific geometry to regulate the amount of air and/or fuel that can pass through at any given time. For example, to allow a greater amount of air and/or fuel through the flow adjustment orifice system 100 (such as to increase the amount of combustion in the combustor 12), each of the plurality of metering orifices 111 may comprise a relatively greater cross-sectional area. Alternatively, to allow a lesser amount of air and/or fuel through the flow adjustment orifice system 100 (such as to reduce the amount of combustion in the combustor 12), each of the plurality of metering orifices 111 may comprise a relatively smaller cross-sectional area.
In some embodiments, each of the plurality of metering orifices 111 may comprise a uniform cross-sectional profile (i.e., uniform size and shape so that the amount of air/fuel passing through each of the plurality of metering orifices is substantially uniform). For example, in some embodiments, each of the plurality of metering orifices may comprise the cross-sectional profile that matches the original open cross-sectional area for the air/fuel inlet orifices 76. In such embodiments, when the air/fuel inlet orifices 76 become worn and comprise a greater-than-original open cross-sectional area that allows excess air/fuel to flow there through, the placement of the plurality of metering orifices 111 of the metering plate 110 over the plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 may return the amount of air/fuel that flows through the fuel nozzle 14 to its original amount by reducing the open cross-sectional area of the air/fuel inlet orifices 76 to their original condition. However, it should also be appreciated that in some embodiments, the plurality of metering orifices 111 may comprise different sizes and shapes such that the plurality of metering orifices 111 are non-uniform.
While reference has been made to a single metering plate 110, in some embodiments the flow adjustment orifice system 100 can comprise a plurality of metering plates, such as including a second metering plate 120 in addition to the first metering plate 110 as illustrated in
Similar to the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 and the second plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 86, in some embodiments, the first metering plate 110 and the second metering plate 120 can be aligned with one another (e.g., wherein the location of the first plurality of metering orifices 111 is symmetrical with the location of the second plurality of metering orifices 121). For example, in some embodiments, such as when the first metering plate 110 and the second metering plate 120 both comprise metering rings having a first void interior section 119 and a second interior void section 129 respectively, the first metering plate 110 and the second metering plate 120 may comprise concentrically aligned first and second metering rings such as illustrated in
Moreover, in some embodiments, as illustrated in the second metering plate 120 in
In addition, in some embodiments where the metering plate comprises a plurality of segments (e.g., the second metering plate 120 and the plurality of segments 122, 124 and 126), the plurality of segments may interlock at a plurality of joints 123, 125 and 127. For example, a first joint 123 may interconnect the first segment 122 to the second segment 124, a second joint 125 may interconnect the second segment 124 to the third segment 126, and a third joint 127 may interconnect the third segment 126 to the first segment 122. In such embodiments, the plurality of joints 123, 125 and 127 may comprise male and female pieces that combine with one another, as illustrated in
Referring to
Moreover, the flow adjustment orifice system 100 (comprising at least the first metering plate 110 and potentially the second metering plate 120 or any other additional metering plates) can comprise any material or materials that allow for its connection to the air/fuel inlet end 15 of the fuel nozzle 14 and the reduction of open cross-sectional area for one or more of the plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices (such as the first plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 or the second plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 86) to meter the amount of air and/or fuel that flows there through. In some embodiments, the metering plate(s) 110 and 120 may comprise a high strength alloy such as an Inconel alloy to provide strong physical properties sometimes required in the combustor 14 of the turbine system 10. In some embodiments, the metering plate(s) 110 and 120 may comprise the same material as the fuel nozzle base surface 62 to provide more uniform material properties between the fuel nozzle 14 and the flow adjustment orifice system 100. However, it should be appreciated that any other materials may alternatively be used that allow for its connection to the air/fuel inlet end 15 of the fuel nozzle 14 and the reduction of open cross-sectional area for one or more of the plurality of air/fuel inlet orifices 76 and 78.
It should now be appreciated that by connecting the flow adjustment orifice system comprising at least one metering plate having a plurality of metering orifices to the air/fuel inlet end of a fuel nozzle, the plurality of metering orifices can reduce the open cross-sectional area of one or more of the air/fuel inlet orifices. Such a connection can therefore meter the amount of air and or fuel that flows through the fuel nozzle without having to add additional material to or otherwise retool the original air/fuel path.
While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
