The present invention relates to a gas turbine combustors, in particular, a gas turbine combustor with main burners for achieving premix combustion.
A gas turbine combustor adopting premix combustion is provided with a pilot burner for diffusion combustion in addition to main burners for premix combustion. This aims to stable the premix combustion. The diffusion flame generated by the pilot burner is used as pilot flame for the main burner to generate premix flame, thereby stabling the premix combustion. In a general gas turbine combustor, main burners are disposed around a pilot burner at regular intervals.
The pilot burner 1 has a cylindrical burner outer liner 11, a pilot swirler 12 and a pilot nozzle 13. The burner outer liner 11 accommodates the pilot swirler 12 and the pilot nozzle 13 therein. A pilot cone 14 is connected to the front end of the burner outer liner 11. Injected into the pilot cone 14 are fuel from the pilot nozzle 13 and swirled airflow from the pilot swirler 12, to achieve diffusion combustion within and downstream of the pilot cone 14.
The main burners 2 are provided with a cylindrical burner outer liner 21, main swirlers 22 and a main nozzle 23.
The main burners 2 with such configuration generate premix gas by mixing fuel and air therein, and inject the generated premix gas from the front ends of the extension tubes 24. In more detail, as shown in
Due to the low flow rate in the vicinity of the inner wall surfaces of the extension tubes 24, flashback is easy to occur. To prevent the flashback, flatted air (or film air) is taken from the connecting portions of the outer liners 21 and the extension tubes 24. More specifically, as shown in
Referring back to
Additionally formed through the basal plate 4 are a lot of sweep air holes 7; it should be noted that only some of the sweep air holes 7 are shown. The sweep air holes 7 allow air from the compressor (not shown) to pass between the pilot burner 1 and the main burner 2 toward the downstream.
In the gas turbine combustor with such configuration, it is crucial to prevent backfire (flashback) of the main burners. Since the flashback causes burn-out of the combustor, the flashback must be suppressed as much as possible.
The inventors consider that the following three factors cause the flashback in the conventional gas turbine combustor. As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
From such background, there is a need of a technique for effectively suppressing the occurrence of the flashback.
In summary, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique for effectively suppressing the occurrence of the flashback.
More specifically, one object of the present invention is to prevent occurrence of a low flow rate region where the premix gas flows at a low speed, thereby preventing the occurrence of the flashback.
Another object of the present invention is to avoid wakes being generated downstream of spacers provided a burner outer liner and an extension tube, thereby preventing the occurrence of the flashback.
In one aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with: a pilot burner; and a plurality of main burners disposed around the pilot burner, outside with respect with the radial direction. Each main burner includes an extension tube provided at the downstream end. An outlet of the extension tube is formed so as to have radial edges parallel to the radial direction.
More specifically, the outlet of the extension tube has two radial edges, and circumferential edges connecting the radial edges. It is preferred that corner portions at which the radial edges are connected with the circumferential edges are rounded.
When the gas turbine combustor further includes a basal plate for supporting the pilot burner and the main burners, the extension tubes are located downstream of the basal plate and the basal plate is provided with openings for allowing sweep air to flow therethrough toward the downstream side, it is preferred that the opening ratio of the openings in regions between the extension tubes on the basal plate is larger than that of the openings in other regions. In this case, it is preferred that the opening ratio of the openings in regions between the adjacent extension tubes and inner than the extension tubes with respect to the radial direction is larger than the opening ratio in other regions.
In another aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with: a pilot burner; a plurality of main burners disposed around the pilot burner, outside with respect to the radial direction; and a basal plate for supporting the pilot burner and the main burners. Each main burner is provided with an extension tube provided at the downstream end and a main swirler for swirling the premix gas and feeding the premix gas to the extension tube. The extension tube is located downstream of the basal plate. The basal plate has openings for allowing sweep air to flow therethrough toward the downstream side. The openings are formed so that the sweep air is swirled in the same direction as the swirl direction of the premix gas.
In still another aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with: a pilot burner; and a plurality of main burners disposed around the pilot burner, outside with respect to the radial direction. Each main burner includes the extension tube provided at its downstream end, while an outlet of the extension tube is elongated so as to extend in the longitudinal direction, and the longitudinal direction of the outlet of the extension tube is oriented diagonally with respect to the radial direction. Preferably, the outlet of the extension tube is shaped into an ellipse having a major axis parallel to the longitudinal direction and the major axis forms an angle other than 90 degrees with the radial direction.
In still another aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with a burner for premix combustion. The burner is provided with: a burner outer liner which accommodates a nozzle for injecting fuel to air and a swirler for swirling premix gas containing fuel and air; an extension tube inserted onto the downstream end of the burner outer liner so as to be located outside of the burner outer liner; and a plurality of spacers which are provided outside of the burner outer liner between the burner outer liner and the extension tube and are separated from each other. The spacers are tapered down toward the downstream side.
In still another aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with a burner for premix combustion. The burner is provided with: a burner outer liner which accommodates a nozzle for injecting fuel to air and a swirler for swirling premix gas containing fuel and air; an extension tube inserted onto the downstream end of the burner outer liner so as to be located outside of the burner outer liner; and a spacer which is provided outside of the burner outer liner between the burner outer liner and the extension tube. The spacer has an opening which is gradually enlarged toward the downstream side.
In place of the spacer having the opening gradually enlarged toward the downstream side, a spacer formed of a porous body may be used.
In either case, it is preferred that the spacer is shaped into a ring and connected to the outer side of the burner outer liner so as to surround the burner outer liner.
In still another aspect, a gas turbine combustor is provided with a burner for premix combustion. The burner is provided with: a burner outer liner which accommodates a nozzle for injecting fuel to air and a swirler for swirling premix gas containing fuel and air; and an extension tube inserted onto the downstream end of the burner outer liner so as to be located outside of the burner outer liner. The burner outer liner is comprised of an outer liner body and a front end portion which is provided at the downstream end of the outer liner body and is smaller than the outer liner body in diameter. The extension tube is inserted onto the burner outer liner so as to contact against the outer liner body and be opposed to the front end portion at the position downstream of the outer liner body, and has an opening at the position opposed to the front end portion.
It is preferred that the opening is located so as to satisfy the following equation:
L/g>2,
which is represented by a radial width g of a gap between the front end portion and the extension tube and a distance L between the downstream end of the opening and the downstream end of the front end portion along the extension tube.
It is preferred that the burner further includes a guide which is provided outside of the extension tube and guides air to the opening. Typically, the guide has a connecting portion connected to the extension tube at the position downstream of the opening and an opposing portion which extends upstream from the connecting portion and is located as opposed to the opening.
According to the present invention, the occurrence of the flashback can be suppressed.
Gas turbine combustors according to the present invention will be described below referring to attached drawings. In the drawings, same, similar, or corresponding elements are denoted by same or corresponding reference numerals.
In a first embodiment of the gas turbine combustor in accordance with the present invention, as shown in
The fact that the outlets of the extension tubes 24A have the radial edges 31 and 32 extending in the radial directions of the combustor is effective for suppressing the generation of the low flow rate regions 26 shown in
When the outlet of each extension tube 24A is angular at its four corners, swirls of the premix gas may be generated at the four corners r resulting in the flashback. To prevent generation of the swirls of the premix gas at the four corners of the outlets of the extension tubes 24A, as shown in
To further suppress the generation of the low flow rate regions 26, it is effective to flow an increased amount of sweep air between the adjacent extension tubes 24A. For this purpose, as shown in
It is understood the fact that the sweep air holes 36 are provided in the regions between the extension tubes 24A does not deny providing the sweep air holes 7 at other positions through the basal plate 4; it is effective for avoiding backflow to provide the sweep air holes 7 at other positions through the basal plate 4. The opening ratio of the sweep air holes 36 provided between the extension tubes 24A is made larger than that of the sweep air holes 7 at other positions. Here, the opening ratio refers to an area at which the sweep air holes 36 or the sweep air holes 7 are opened per unit area. In the present embodiment, the opening ratio in the regions between the extension tubes 24A is set larger than the opening ratio at the other positions by setting the diameter of the sweep air holes 36 larger than that of the sweep air holes 7. It is also preferred that the density at which the sweep air holes 36 are formed in the regions between the extension tubes 24A is made larger than the density at which the sweep air holes 7 are provided at other positions. Here, it should be noted that the density at which the sweep air holes 36 or the sweep air holes 7 are formed refers to the number of the sweep air holes 36 or the sweep air holes 7 per unit area.
To further suppress the flashback, it is preferred that the opening ratio of the sweep air holes 36 in regions 39 between the extension tubes 24A and on the inner side of the extension tubes 24A with respect to the radial direction (that is, the side of the pilot cone 14) is larger than the opening ratio at other positions. The increased opening ratio in the regions 39 leads to increase in the amount of sweep air between the extension tubes 24A and in the vicinity of the pilot cone 14. This also effectively suppresses the flashback which occurs due to transmission of frame from the diffusion flame generated by the pilot burner 1 to the premix flame generated by the main burners 2.
It is preferred that flow of the sweep air introduced from the sweep air holes 36 and the sweep air holes 7 is swirled in the same direction as the swirl of the premix gas injected from the extension tubes 24. It should be noted that, in
In order to swirl the sweep air and the premix gas in the same direction, as shown in
In A second embodiment, a technique is provided for suppressing the flashback caused by the wakes generated downstream of the spacers 25, which separate the burner outer liners 21 from the extension tubes 24 of the main burners 2 (see
Referring to
As shown in
As shown in
Furthermore, it is also preferred that the burner outer liners 21 are engaged with the extension tubes 24 as shown in
The engagement configuration as shown in
It is preferred that openings 24d located at the most downstream position are positioned so as to satisfy the following equation:
L/g>2, (1)
where g is a radial width of a gap between the front end portions 21b and the extension tubes 24, and L is a distance between the downstream ends of the openings 24d located at the most downstream position and the front ends of the front end portions 21b in the direction along the extension tubes 24. In order to sufficiently take air for film cooling through the openings 24d, it is effective to locate the openings 24d so as to satisfy the equation (1).
In order to sufficiently take air for film cooling through the openings 24d, as shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2004-264725 | Sep 2004 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2005/015989 | 9/1/2005 | WO | 00 | 11/2/2007 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2006/027989 | 3/16/2006 | WO | A |
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6634175 | Kawata et al. | Oct 2003 | B1 |
6732528 | Akagi et al. | May 2004 | B2 |
6742338 | Tanaka et al. | Jun 2004 | B2 |
6772594 | Nishida et al. | Aug 2004 | B2 |
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07-248118 | Sep 1995 | JP |
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Entry |
---|
International Search Report of PCT/JP2005/015989, date of mailing Dec. 6, 2005. |
German Office Action dated Jan. 15, 2010, issued in corresponding German Patent Application No. 112005002065.7. |
International Search Report mailed Dec. 6, 2005 of International Application No. PCT/JP2005/015989. |
Office Action issued Feb. 14, 2007 in corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-264725. Partial translation provided. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20080184708 A1 | Aug 2008 | US |