The present invention relates to the technology of gas turbines. It refers to a sequential burner for an axial gas turbine according to the preamble of claim 1.
In order to achieve a high efficiency, a high turbine inlet temperature is required in standard gas turbines. As a result, there arise high NOx emission levels and high life cycle costs. These problems can be mitigated with a sequential combustion cycle (e.g. using a burner of the type as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,018 or U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,017 or in U.S. 2002/0187448, also called SEV combustor, where the S stands for sequential). Both combustors contain premixing burners, as low NOx emissions require high mixing quality of the fuel and the oxidizer.
An exemplary gas turbine of the applicant with sequential combustion, which is known as GT26, is shown in
Gas turbine 10 of
Document EP 2 522 912 A1 relates to a combined flow straightener and mixer as well as a burner for a combustion chamber of a gas turbine comprising such a mixing device. For a combined function of flow straightening and mixing at least two streamlined bodies are arranged in a structure comprising the side walls of the mixer. The leading edge area of each streamlined body has a profile, which is oriented parallel to a main flow direction prevailing at the leading edge position, and wherein, with reference to a central plane of the streamlined bodies the trailing edges are provided with at least two lobes in opposite transverse directions. The periodic deflections forming the lobes from two adjacent streamlined bodies are out of phase. The disclosure further relates to a burner for a combustion chamber of a gas turbine, comprising such a flow straightener and mixer as well as at least one nozzle having its outlet orifice at or in a trailing edge of the streamlined body. Further, it relates to the operation of such a burner.
Document EP 2 725 301 A1 relates to a burner for a combustion chamber of a gas turbine with a mixing and injection device, wherein the mixing and injection device is comprising a limiting wall that defines a gas-flow channel and at least two streamlined bodies, each extending in a first transverse direction into the gas-flow channel. Each streamlined body has two lateral surfaces that are arranged essentially parallel to the main-flow direction, the lateral surfaces being joined to one another at their upstream side to form a leading edge of the body and joined at their downstream side to form a trailing edge of the body. Each streamlined body has a cross-section perpendicular to the first transverse direction that is shaped as a streamlined profile. At least one of said streamlined bodies is provided with a mixing structure and with at least one fuel nozzle located at its trailing edge for introducing at least one fuel essentially parallel to the main-flow direction into the flow channel, wherein at least two of the streamlined bodies have different lengths along the first transverse direction such that they may be used for a can combustor.
In this case, the nozzles used for fuel injection are in a radial alignment. The difference to the fuel lance of
On the other hand, when an injection head 30 is used with a radial inline series of injection points (
In existing secondary burners high creep resistant materials are used and the size of the burner is small in comparison with the new requirements. For these new requirements solutions could be found with more expensive materials or larger wall thickness that would increase the cost, worsen the LCF properties and possibly impose casting as manufacturing option.
The SEV burner is subject to a large pressure drop between its cold and hot side. It is also exposed to high temperatures. Also due to its mainly rectangular shape, the upper and lower walls can creep and its shape and robustness is compromised. The multipoint injection system shown in
Although the problems have been discussed so far for a sequential burner with essentially rectangular cross-section, the problem and the solution to be found is not restricted to sequential burners with rectangular cross-section. In general, the cross-section can be for example rectangular, circular or trapezoidal.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sequential burner, which avoids disadvantages of known sequential burners and allows a multipoint injection scheme without requiring new materials or designs for the burner body.
This and other objects are obtained by a sequential burner as claimed in claim 1.
According to the invention, a sequential burner for an axial gas turbine comprises a burner body, which is designed as an axially extending hot gas channel, and further comprises a fuel injection device, which extends into said burner body perpendicular to the axial direction.
Said sequential burner is characterized in that said fuel injection device is designed as a mechanically stiff component, and that said fuel injection device is fixed to said burner body in order to keep it aligned with said burner body and to stiffen said burner body against creep.
According to an embodiment of the inventive sequential burner said fuel injection device is an injection head comprising a plurality of fingers extending parallel to each other and perpendicular to the axial direction between an upper end plate and a lower end plate, and said injection head is fixed with its upper endplate to an outer wall of said burner body, whereby its lower end plate is flush with an inner wall of said burner body.
Specifically, a burner flange is provided in said outer wall of said burner body, said injection head sits in said burner body with its upper end plate flush with said burner flange, and said upper end plate is fixed to said burner flange by means of sliding inserts.
More specifically, said upper and lower end plates of said injection head and said burner flange are circular, and said upper end plate is fixed to said burner flange by means of multiple inserts, which are distributed along the circumference of said burner flange and said upper end plate, respectively.
Even more specifically, each of said inserts is fixed to said burner flange by means of a fixing lug, and each of said inserts has a foot, which meshes on one side with a circumferential groove at said burner flange and on the opposite side with a related of a plurality of hooks being distributed along the circumference of said upper end plate.
Specifically, there is a gap provided within said series of distributed hooks for introducing an insert and sliding it from said gap to its final position along a circumferential path.
Alternatively, said upper and lower end plates of said injection head and said burner flange are non-circular with two parallel longitudinal sides, and said upper end plate is fixed to said burner flange by means of two straight inserts or wedges inserted at said longitudinal sides.
Specifically, each of said inserts meshes on one side with a slotted outer rail at said longitudinal sides of said burner flange and on the opposite side with a slotted inner rail at said longitudinal sides of said upper end plate.
According to another embodiment of the invention each of said fingers is configured as a streamlined body which has a streamlined cross-sectional profile, whereby said body has two lateral surfaces essentially parallel to the flow direction of the hot gas passing through said burner body, whereby said lateral surfaces are joined at their upstream side by a leading edge and at their downstream side forming a trailing edge, and whereby a plurality of nozzles for injecting a gaseous and/or liquid fuel mixed with air is distributed along said trailing edge.
The present invention is now to be explained more closely by means of different embodiments and with reference to the attached drawings.
A basic idea of the present invention is to use the fuel injection head of a sequential burner as stiffening element for a more robust SEV design. At the same time, fixing the sequential burner injection head at the burner body keeps it centered (aligned) with the burner body.
In the prior art (see
The idea now is to fix the injection head to the top of the burner and flush with the bottom of it.
In
Each of said fingers 36 is configured as a streamlined body which has a streamlined cross-sectional profile, whereby said body has two lateral surfaces essentially parallel to the flow direction of the hot gas passing through said burner body 31. Said lateral surfaces are joined at their upstream side by a leading edge and at their downstream side forming a trailing edge. A plurality of nozzles (not shown in the Figures) for injecting a gaseous and/or liquid fuel mixed with air is distributed along said trailing edge.
Injection head 30 is configured such that the upper end plate 35 is flush with the burner flange 37 and the lower end plate 51 is flush with the inner wall 53, when injection head 30, after sliding into burner body 31 (
When injection head 30 has been fully inserted into burner body 31, it is fixed at burner flange 37 according to a procedure shown in
Injection head 30 is fixed to the burner body and balcony with inserts 40, 40′ as shown in
As shown in
If an injection head has more than three fingers, e.g. four fingers, a non-round solution is needed. In this case, the injection head can also slide into the burner body, but the shape has two long straight slits (or slotted rails) used to fix the burner with straight inserts or wedges.
The side view of
To sum up, fixing the burner on top and preventing the bottom to deform inwards, the injection head not only serves its fuel injection purposes but also prevents the upper and lower walls to creep because of their high temperatures and the strong pressure difference between the cold and the hot side. At the same time the injection head is always centered and aligned with the burner body.
The advantages of the invention are:
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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14196291.0 | Dec 2014 | EP | regional |