Gas turbine engine afterburner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10634352-B2
Application number	US-201715663203-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2017
Priority date	Mar 8, 2013
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

An afterburner for use with a gas turbine engine includes a plurality of vanes distributed downstream of a turbine of the gas turbine engine. The vanes can include one or more exit apertures through which hot combustion flow from a pilot can be injected. The exit apertures can be protrusions or slots in some forms. In some embodiments, cooling passages are arranged around the exit apertures. An upstream vane portion can be positioned to inject fuel to be combusted via interaction with hot flow that is discharged through the exit apertures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A gas turbine engine comprising:
an engine core including a compressor, a combustor, and a turbine arranged along a central axis of the engine core and a bypass duct arranged around the engine core, the engine core configured to receive and combust a working fluid, and the bypass duct configured to conduct bypass fluid around the engine core,
an afterburner pilot combustor positioned radially outward of an annular wall, the annular wall defining a flow path of the working fluid from the turbine, the afterburner pilot combustor configured to receive a first portion of the bypass fluid from the bypass duct and combust a mixture of fuel and the first portion of the bypass fluid to form combustion products in the afterburner pilot combustor,
an afterburner vane located downstream of the turbine and configured to act as a flame holder for igniting a mixture of fuel, the working fluid, and a second portion of the bypass fluid flowing around the afterburner vane, the afterburner vane including a leading edge, a trailing edge spaced apart axially from the leading edge, a hot passage that extends radially into the afterburner vane, and at least one discharge opening formed in the trailing edge of the afterburner vane and fluidly connected with the hot passage,
wherein the afterburner vane is configured to receive the combustion products from the afterburner pilot combustor in the hot passage and to convey the combustion products out of the afterburner vane through the at least one discharge opening to ignite the mixture of fuel, the working fluid, and the second portion of the bypass fluid.

2. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the afterburner vane further includes a cooling passage formed at least partway around the hot passage and the cooling passage is configured to receive a cooling fluid and conduct the cooling fluid radially along the hot passage.

3. The gas turbine engine of claim 2 , wherein the afterburner vane further includes a cooling aperture formed in the trailing edge and arranged around the at least one discharge opening and the cooling aperture is in fluid communication with the cooling passage.

4. The gas turbine engine of claim 2 , wherein the afterburner vane further includes an upstream vane portion located upstream of the trailing edge and the upstream vane portion is formed to include a plurality of fuel injection openings configured to direct fuel out of the afterburner vane for use in the mixture of fuel, the working fluid, and the second portion of the bypass fluid.

5. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the at least one discharge opening includes a plurality of radially spaced apart discrete discharge openings that extend axially away from the trailing edge of the afterburner vane.

6. The gas turbine engine of claim 1 , wherein the at least one discharge opening defines a discharge slot in the trailing edge of the afterburner vane and the discharge slot extends along a majority of a span of the afterburner vane.

7. The gas turbine engine of claim 6 , wherein the afterburner vane further includes a cooling passage formed around the hot passage and a cooling slot formed in the trailing edge of the afterburner vane along at least one side of the discharge slot and the cooling slot is in fluid communication with the cooling passage.

8. A gas turbine engine comprising:
an engine core including a compressor, a combustor, a turbine, and a bypass passage structured to convey a bypass working fluid around the engine core, the engine core having a flow path structured to convey a working stream that includes products of combustion from the combustor,
an afterburner pilot combustor positioned radially outward of an annular wall, the annular wall defining the flow path of the working stream from the turbine, the afterburner pilot combustor structured to receive the bypass working fluid and combust a mixture of the bypass working fluid and fuel, the afterburner pilot combustor configured with an exit through which passes an afterburner hot gas flow; and
a plurality of afterburner jet vanes distributed downstream of and in fluid communication with the turbine, each of the plurality of afterburner jet vanes including an internal cooling passage structured to convey a cooling fluid and an internal hot flow passage in fluid communication with the exit of the afterburner pilot combustor and structured to convey the afterburner hot gas flow from the afterburner pilot combustor to an exit aperture from which the afterburner hot gas flow is discharged from the afterburner jet vanes, the exit aperture having a peripheral shape and a cooling slot disposed on opposing sides of the exit aperture having a contour that substantially matches the peripheral shape of the exit aperture, and the cooling slot in fluid communication with the internal cooling passage.

9. The gas turbine engine of claim 8 , wherein the exit aperture is formed in a protrusion that extends away from a surface of each of the plurality of afterburner jet vanes, and wherein the cooling slot is an annular cooling slot disposed about the exit aperture.

10. The gas turbine engine of claim 8 , wherein the exit aperture is a slot formed in a trailing edge portion of each of the plurality of afterburner jet vanes, and wherein the cooling slot includes a first slot side and a second slot side.

11. The gas turbine engine of claim 10 , further comprising a third slot side positioned opposite a fourth slot side such that the cooling slot forms a four sided cooling slot that substantially surrounds the exit aperture.

12. The gas turbine engine of claim 8 , wherein each afterburner jet vane further includes an upstream vane portion formed to include a plurality of fuel injection openings configured to direct fuel out of the afterburner jet vane upstream of the exit aperture.

13. A gas turbine engine comprising:
an engine core arranged along a central axis thereof and configured to receive and combust a working fluid and a bypass duct configured to conduct bypass fluid around the engine core,
an afterburner pilot combustor positioned radially outward of an annular wall, the annular wall defining a flow path of the working fluid from the turbine, the afterburner pilot combustor configured to receive a portion of the bypass fluid and combust a mixture of fuel and the portion of the bypass fluid to form combustion products,
an afterburner vane located in the flow path of the working fluid and including a leading edge, a trailing edge spaced apart axially from the leading edge, a hot passage that extends radially into the afterburner vane, and at least one discharge opening formed in the trailing edge of the afterburner vane and fluidly connected with the hot passage, the afterburner vane coupled with the afterburner pilot combustor and configured to receive the combustion products from the afterburner pilot combustor in the hot passage and to convey the combustion products out of the afterburner vane through the at least one discharge opening.

14. The gas turbine engine of claim 13 , wherein the afterburner vane includes a plurality of protrusions that extend axially away from the trailing edge, the at least one discharge opening includes a plurality of discharge openings, and each of the plurality of protrusions forms one of the plurality of discharge openings.

15. The gas turbine engine of claim 14 , wherein the protrusions are distributed along a span of the afterburner vane.

16. The gas turbine engine of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of protrusions include at least two protrusions having different angular offsets

Assignees

• Rolls Royce Nam Tech Inc

Inventors

• Mccormick Keith A
• Roesler Timothy C
• Verdouw Albert J

Classifications

• F23R3/20 Primary

  incorporating fuel injection means · CPC title

• F23R3/52

  Toroidal combustion chambers · CPC title

• F02K3/10

  by after-burners (F02K3/105 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F23R2900/00015

  Trapped vortex combustion chambers · CPC title