Patent Application
20220205636
This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0189786, filed on Dec. 31, 2020, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a micro-mixer and a combustor having the same.
A gas turbine is a combustion engine in which a mixture of air compressed by a compressor and fuel is combusted to produce a high temperature gas which drives a turbine. The gas turbine is used to drive electric generators, aircraft, ships, trains, or the like.
The gas turbine includes a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine. The compressor serves to intake external air, compress the air, and transfer the compressed air to the combustor. The compressed air compressed by the compressor has a high temperature and a high pressure. The combustor serves to mix compressed air compressed by the compressor and fuel and combust the mixture of compressed air and fuel to produce combustion gas discharged to the gas turbine. The combustion gas drives turbine blades in the turbine to produce power. The generated power is applied to a variety of fields such as generation of electricity, driving of mechanical units, etc.
Aspects of one or more exemplary embodiments provide a micro-mixer capable of effectively mixing compressed air supplied from a compressor to a combustor and fuel supplied from a fuel nozzle, and a combustor including the same.
Additional aspects will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will become apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the exemplary embodiments.
According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a micro-mixer including: a mixing passage including an inlet and an outlet; a fuel supply passage extending from one inner wall to the other inner wall of the mixing passage; and a fuel supply port formed in the fuel supply passage to supply fuel to the mixing passage.
The fuel supply port may be provided toward the outlet of the mixing passage.
The fuel supply passage may be formed in multiple units such that the fuel supply passages are formed to cross each other when viewed from the outlet to the inlet.
The fuel supply passage may be formed upstream of the mixing passage, and a fluid mixer may be formed downstream of the mixing passage to mix a mixed fluid flowing toward the outlet.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of baffle members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the baffle members having a different opening pattern.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of mesh members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the mesh members having a different opening pattern.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of steel wire members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the steel wire members extending in a different direction.
According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a combustor including: a combustion chamber assembly including a combustion chamber in which a fuel fluid combusts; and a micro-mixer assembly including a plurality of micro-mixers to inject the fuel fluid into the combustion chamber, each of the micro-mixer including: a mixing passage including an inlet and an outlet; a fuel supply passage extending from one inner wall to the other inner wall of the mixing passage; and a fuel supply port formed in the fuel supply passage to supply fuel to the mixing passage.
The fuel supply port may be provided toward the outlet of the mixing passage.
The fuel supply passage may be formed in multiple units such that the fuel supply passages are formed to cross each other when viewed from the outlet to the inlet.
The fuel supply passage may be formed upstream of the mixing passage, and a fluid mixer may be formed downstream of the mixing passage to mix a mixed fluid flowing toward the outlet.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of baffle members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the baffle members having a different opening pattern.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of mesh members sequentially spaced apart from each other in the direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the mesh members having a different opening pattern.
The fluid mixer may include a plurality of steel wire members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the steel wire members extending in a different direction.
The micro-mixer assembly may further include: a micro-mixer bundle in which the plurality of micro-mixers are disposed; an insertion hole into which the micro-mixer bundle is inserted; and a damping spring provided between the micro-mixer bundle and the insertion hole.
According to an aspect of another exemplary embodiment, there is provided a gas turbine including: a compressor configured to compress air; a combustor configured to mix the air compressed by the compressor with fuel to produce a mixed fuel fluid and combust the mixed fuel fluid; and a turbine rotated by the combustion gas produced by the combustor to generate power, wherein the combustor including: a combustion chamber assembly including a combustion chamber in which the fuel fluid combusts; and a micro-mixer assembly including a plurality of micro-mixers to inject the fuel fluid into the combustion chamber, wherein each of the micro-mixers including: a mixing passage including an inlet and an outlet; a fuel supply passage extending from one inner wall to the other inner wall of the mixing passage; and a fuel supply port formed in the fuel supply passage to supply fuel to the mixing passage.
The fuel supply port may be provided toward the outlet of the mixing passage.
The fuel supply passage may be formed in multiple units such that the fuel supply passages are formed to cross each other when viewed from the outlet to the inlet.
The fuel supply passage may be formed upstream of the mixing passage, and a fluid mixer may be formed downstream of the mixing passage to mix a mixed fluid flowing toward the outlet. The fluid mixer may include a plurality of baffle members, mesh members, or steel wire members sequentially spaced apart from each other in a direction from the inlet to the outlet, each of the baffle members or each of the mesh members having a different opening pattern, and each of the steel wire members may extend in a different direction.
The micro-mixer assembly may further include: a micro-mixer bundle in which the plurality of micro-mixers are disposed; an insertion hole into which the micro-mixer bundle is inserted; and a damping spring provided between the micro-mixer bundle and the insertion hole.
According to one or more exemplary embodiments, compressed air supplied from the compressor to the combustor can be effectively mixed with the fuel supplied from the fuel nozzle.
The above and other aspects will become more apparent from the following description of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Various modifications and various embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the various embodiments are not for limiting the scope of the disclosure to the specific embodiment, but they should be interpreted to include all of modifications, equivalents or substitutions of the embodiments included within the spirit and scope disclosed herein.
Terms used herein are used to merely describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. As used herein, an element expressed as a singular form includes a plurality of elements, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Further, it will be understood that the term “including” or “including” specifies the presence of stated features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures and exemplary embodiments. In certain embodiments, a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may obscure the gist of the present disclosure will be omitted. For the same reason, some of the elements in the drawings are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated.
Hereinafter, a gas turbine according to a first exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to
An ideal thermodynamic cycle of a gas turbine may ideally comply with the Brayton cycle. The Brayton cycle consists of four thermodynamic processes: isentropic compression (i.e., an adiabatic compression) process, isobaric combustion process, isentropic expansion (i.e., an adiabatic expansion) process and isobaric heat ejection process. That is, in the Brayton cycle, thermal energy may be released by combustion of fuel in an isobaric environment after atmospheric air is sucked and compressed into high pressure air, hot combustion gas may be expanded to be converted into kinetic energy, and exhaust gas with residual energy may be discharged to the outside. As such, the Brayton cycle consists of four thermodynamic processes including compression, heating, expansion, and exhaust.
The gas turbine 1000 employing the Brayton cycle includes the compressor 1100, the combustor 1200, and the turbine 1300. Although the following description will be described with reference to
Referring to
The compressor 1100 may be designed in a form of a centrifugal compressor or an axial compressor, wherein the centrifugal compressor is applied to a small-scale gas turbine, whereas a multi-stage axial compressor is applied to a large-scale gas turbine 1000 illustrated in
The compressor 1100 is driven using a portion of the power output from a turbine 1300. To this end, as illustrated in
The combustor 1200 may mix the compressed air supplied from an outlet of the compressor 1100 with fuel and combust the mixture at constant pressure to produce combustion gas with high energy.
The combustor 1200 is disposed downstream of the compressor 1100 and includes a plurality of burner modules 1210 annually disposed around a center axis thereof.
Referring to
The gas turbine 1000 may use gas fuel, liquid fuel, or a combination thereof. In order to create a combustion environment for reducing emissions such as carbon monoxides or nitrogen oxides, a gas turbine has a recent tendency to apply a premixed combustion scheme that is advantageous in reducing emissions through lowered combustion temperature and homogeneous combustion even though it is difficult to control the premixed combustion.
In case of premixed combustion, in the micro-mixer assembly 1230, the compressed air introduced from the compressor 1100 is mixed with fuel in advance, and then enters to the combustion chamber 1240. When the premixed gas is initially ignited by an igniter and then a combustion state is stabilized, the combustion state is maintained by supplying fuel and air.
Referring to
The plurality of micro-mixer bundles MB may include a single inner micro-mixer bundle and a plurality of circumferential micro-mixer bundles radially arranged around the inner micro-mixer bundle.
The combustion chamber assembly 1220 includes a combustion chamber 1240 in which combustion occurs, a liner 1250 and a transition piece 1260.
The liner 1250 disposed on a downstream side of the micro-mixer assembly 1230 may have a dual structure of an inner liner part 1251 and an outer liner part 1252 in which the inner liner part 1251 is surrounded by the outer liner part 1252. In this case, the inner liner part 1251 is a hollow tubular member, and the combustion chamber 1240 is an internal space of the inner liner part 1251. The inner liner part 1251 is cooled by the compressed air introduced into an annular space inside the outer liner part 1252 through inlet holes H.
The transition piece 1260 is disposed on a downstream side of the liner 1250 to guide the combustion gas generated in the combustion chamber 1240 toward the turbine 1300. The transition piece 1260 may have a dual structure of an inner transition piece part 1261 and an outer transition piece part 1262 in which the inner transition piece part 1261 is surrounded by the outer transition piece part 1262. The inner transition piece part 1261 is also formed of a hollow tubular member such that a diameter gradually decreases from the liner 1250 toward the turbine 1300. In this case, the inner liner part 1251 and the inner transition piece part 1261 may be coupled to each other by a plate spring seal. Because respective ends of the inner liner part 1251 and the inner transition piece part 1261 are fixed to the combustor 1200 and the turbine 1300, respectively, the plate spring seal may have a structure capable of accommodating expansion of length and diameter by thermal expansion to support the inner liner part 1251 and the inner transition piece part 1261.
As such, the inner liner part 1251 and the inner transition piece part 1261 have a structure surrounded by the outer liner part 1252 and the outer transition piece part 1262, respectively so that compressed air may flow into the annular space between the inner liner part 1251 and the outer liner part 1252 and into the annular space between the inner transition piece part 1261 and the outer transition piece part 1262. The compressed air introduced into the annular spaces may cool the inner liner part 1251 and the inner transition piece part 1261.
In the meantime, high temperature and high pressure combustion gas generated by the combustor 1200 is supplied to the turbine 1300 through the liner 1250 and the transition piece 1260. In the turbine 1300, the combustion gas undergoes adiabatic expansion and impacts and drives a plurality of blades arranged radially around a rotary shaft of the turbine 1300 so that thermal energy of the combustion gas is converted into mechanical energy with which the rotary shaft rotates. A portion of the mechanical energy obtained from the turbine 1300 is supplied as the energy required to compress the air in the compressor 1100, and the remaining is utilized as an available energy to drive a generator to produce electric power
The combustor 1200 may further include a casing 1270 and an end cover 1231 coupled together to receive the compressed air A flowing into the burner module 1210. After the compressed air A flows into the annular space inside the liner 1250 or the transition piece 1260 through the inlet holes H, the flow direction of the compressed air A is changed by the end cover 1231 to the inside of the micro-mixer 100. The fuel is supplied to the micro-mixer 100 via a fuel plenum 1235 through a fuel passage 1232 and may be mixed with compressed air.
The micro-mixers 100 are radially arranged in an end cap 1233 upstream of the combustion chamber 1240. The end cap 1233 has an upper surface 1233a and a lower surface 1233b. A shroud 1234 is formed to surround the end cap 1233. The micro-mixer 100 is formed to extend from the upper surface 1233a to the lower surface 1233b of the end cap 1233. The compressed air A flows into the combustion chamber 1240 through the micro-mixers 100 formed in the end cap 1233.
Referring to
The upper surface 1233a and the lower surface 1233b of the end cap 1233, and the shroud 1234 form a fuel plenum 1235. The fuel plenum 1235 includes a baffle 1236 defining a fuel path through which the fuel F flows into the micro-mixer 100. The baffle 1236 has a baffle hole 1237 through which the fuel is introduced into the micro-mixer 100.
Hereinafter, a micro-mixer according to a first exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
Referring to
The mixing passage 103 is formed to extend from the upper surface 1233a toward the lower surface 1233b of the end cap 1233 and has the inlet 101 formed in the upper surface 1233a and the outlet 102 formed in the lower surface 1233b. Compressed air A is introduced through the inlet 101, and a mixture A+F of compressed air A and fuel F flows into the combustion chamber 1240 through the outlet 102.
The fuel supply passage 110 is formed to extend from one inner wall to the other inner wall of the mixing passage 103. At least one fuel supply passage 110 may be formed across the mixing passage 103.
The fuel supply passage 110 may be formed of a plurality of units, which may be configured to be parallel to each other as shown in
As illustrated in
The fuel supply passage 110 is provided with a fuel inlet port 111 and a fuel supply port 112. The fuel inlet port 111 allows the fuel F introduced through the baffle hole 1237 to flow into the fuel supply passage 110. The fuel supply port 112 allows the fuel introduced into the fuel supply passage 110 to be supplied to the mixing passage 103 so that the compressed air A introduced from the inlet 101 and the fuel F are mixed. If the fuel supply port 112 is formed toward the inlet 101, the compressed air A may be supplied into the fuel supply port 112. Therefore, the fuel supply port 112 is preferably formed toward the outlet 102.
Hereinafter, a micro-mixer according to a second exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to
Referring to
In
The fluid mixer 120 may include a plurality of baffle members. Each of the baffle members may be provided with a different opening pattern. The baffle members may be sequentially spaced apart from the inlet 101 toward the outlet 102 of the mixing passage 103.
Referring to
Referring to
The fluid mixer 130 may include a first mesh member 131 and a second mesh member 132 which may be sequentially spaced apart from the inlet 101 toward the outlet 102 of the mixing passage 103. The first mesh member 131 may have a first pattern, and the second mesh member 132 may have a second pattern different from the first pattern. For example, the first mesh member 131 may have a first pattern having a cross-shaped (+) opening, and the second mesh member 132 may have a second pattern having an X-shaped opening.
Referring to
The fluid mixer 140 may include three steel wire members 141, 142, and 143 which may be sequentially spaced apart from the inlet 101 toward the outlet 102 of the mixing passage 103. The first steel wire member 141 may be formed in a first direction, the second steel wire member 142 may be formed in a second direction different from the first direction, and the third steel wire member 143 may be formed in a third direction different from the first and second directions.
The mixture A+F mixed according to the first exemplary embodiment may be further mixed while flowing to the outlet 102 by the fluid mixers 120, 130, and 140 according to the second exemplary embodiment, thereby improving the mixing efficiency of fluids.
Next, a modified example of the micro-mixer assembly will be described with reference to
Referring to
Accordingly, the micro-mixer assembly may further include a damping spring 200 formed between the micro-mixer bundle MB and the insertion hole 1233c of the end cap 1233. The damping spring 200 may be provided on an outer peripheral surface of the micro-mixer bundle MB or may be provided on an inner wall of the insertion hole 1233c. The damping spring 200 may absorb vibrations generated during operation of the gas turbine to prevent damage to the micro-mixer bundle MB.
While one or more exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made through addition, change, omission, or substitution of components without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims, and these modifications and changes fall within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2020-0189786 | Dec 2020 | KR | national |
