Combustion section with a primary combustor and a set of secondary combustors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12429220-B2
Application number	US-202318359178-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2023
Priority date	Jun 14, 2023
Publication date	Sep 30, 2025
Grant date	Sep 30, 2025

Abstract

A turbine engine with a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section in serial flow arrangement along an engine centerline. The combustion section including a primary combustor liner having an inner liner and an outer liner. A dome wall and a dome inlet are located in the dome wall. At least one opening is located in the outer liner downstream from the dome inlet. A primary combustion chamber and a set of secondary combustors are fluidly coupled to the primary combustion chamber at the at least one opening.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A combustion section for a turbine engine, the combustion section comprising:
a primary combustor liner including an inner liner and an outer liner;
a dome wall extending between the inner liner and the outer liner;
a dome inlet located in the dome wall, the dome inlet defining a primary centerline;
at least one opening located in the outer liner downstream from the dome inlet;
a primary combustor having a primary fuel injector and a primary combustion chamber defined at least in part by the inner liner, the outer liner, and the dome wall, wherein the primary combustor extends between the dome wall and a primary combustor outlet, and wherein an upstream direction is defined from the primary combustor outlet to the dome inlet; and
a set of secondary combustors including at least one secondary combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the primary combustion chamber at the at least one opening, wherein the outer liner is free of dilution openings upstream of the at least one opening, the set of secondary combustors comprising a mini combustor and a mini fuel injector fluidly coupled to a secondary fuel passageway, wherein the mini fuel injector terminates at a mini dome defining a secondary centerline directed towards the dome inlet;
wherein secondary exhaust gasses G 2 from the at least one secondary combustion chamber are directed towards the primary combustion chamber, and wherein at least a portion of the secondary exhaust gasses G 2 mix with primary exhaust gasses G 1 upstream of the at least one opening.

2. The combustion section of claim 1 , further comprising a set of dilution openings located in the outer liner downstream from the at least one opening.

3. The combustion section of claim 1 , wherein the mini combustor comprises a mini dome wall radially spaced from the outer liner and a mini dome inlet located in the mini dome wall and fluidly coupled to the at least one secondary combustion chamber.

4. The combustion section of claim 3 , further comprising a primary fuel injector fluidly coupled to the dome inlet and a mini fuel injector fluidly coupled to the mini dome inlet.

5. The combustion section of claim 3 , wherein the mini dome inlet defines the secondary centerline that intersects the primary centerline to define a primary combustor angle α.

6. The combustion section of claim 5 , wherein the primary combustor angle α ranges from greater than or equal to 25 degrees to less than 90 degrees.

7. The combustion section of claim 6 , wherein a radial line extending from an engine centerline of the turbine engine intersects with a geometric center of the at least one opening and forms a second combustor angle β with the secondary centerline in a radial plane, the secondary combustor angle β complementary to the primary combustor angle α.

8. The combustion section of claim 6 , wherein a radial line extending from an engine centerline intersects with a geometric center of the at least one opening and forms an orientation angle with the secondary centerline in a transverse plane.

9. The combustion section of claim 8 , wherein the orientation angle is a first orientation angle measured from the secondary centerline in a clockwise direction to the radial line.

10. The combustion section of claim 8 , wherein the orientation angle is a second orientation angle measured from the secondary centerline in a counterclockwise direction to the radial line.

11. The combustion section of claim 1 , wherein the primary combustion chamber produces the primary exhaust gasses G 1 that recirculate in a first direction.

12. The combustion section of claim 11 , wherein the at least one secondary combustion chamber produces the secondary exhaust gasses G 2 that flow into the primary combustion chamber in a second direction different than the first direction.

13. The combustion section of claim 1 , wherein the at least one opening is multiple openings circumferentially spaced about the outer liner and wherein the set of secondary combustors comprises multiple mini combustors fluidly coupled to the primary combustion chamber at a corresponding opening of the multiple openings.

14. The combustion section of claim 1 , further comprising a main combustion zone that extends between the dome inlet and a geometric center of the at least one opening a main combustion length.

15. The combustion section of claim 14 , wherein the primary combustor extends between the dome inlet and a primary combustor outlet a primary combustor length, and the main combustion length is from 5% to 90% of the primary combustor length, inclusive of endpoints.

16. The combustion section of claim 15 , wherein the main combustion zone has a combustion residence time that ranges from 1.0 ms to 12 ms, inclusive of endpoints.

17. The combustion section of claim 16 , wherein the at least one secondary combustion chamber has a combustion residence time that ranges from 1.1 ms and 20 ms, inclusive of endpoints.

18. A turbine engine comprising:
a compressor section, a combustion section, and a turbine section in serial flow arrangement along an engine centerline, the combustion section comprising:
an inner liner circumferentially arranged about the engine centerline;
an outer liner spaced radially outward from and concentric with the inner liner;
a dome wall extending between the inner liner and the outer liner;
a dome inlet located in the dome wall;
a primary combustor having a primary combustion chamber defined at least in part by the inner liner, the outer liner, and the dome wall and extending between the dome inlet and a primary combustor outlet, wherein the primary combustor outlet is located a primary combustor length from the dome inlet, and wherein an upstream direction is defined from the primary combustor outlet to the dome inlet and a downstream direction from the dome inlet to the primary combustor outlet;
at least one opening located in the outer liner downstream from the dome inlet, wherein the outer liner is free of dilution openings upstream of the at least one opening; and
a set of secondary combustors including at least one secondary combustion chamber fluidly coupled to the primary combustion chamber at the at least one opening to define a secondary combustor outlet, the set of secondary combustors comprising a mini combustor and a mini fuel injector fluidly coupled to a secondary fuel passageway, wherein the mini fuel injector terminates at a mini dome inlet defining a secondary centerline directed toward the dome inlet;
wherein secondary exhaust gasses G 2 from the mini combustor are directed towards the primary combustion chamber, and wherein at least a portion of the secondary exhaust gasses G 2 mix with primary exhaust gasses G 1 upstream of the at least one opening.

19. The combustion section of claim 1 , further comprising a primary ignitor fluidly coupled to the primary combustion chamber.

20. The combustion section of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the primary fuel injector or the mini fuel injector is coupled to a fuel system configured to privide hydrogen (H 2 ) fuel or blends of hydrogen (H 2 ) fuel to the primary fuel injector or the mini fuel injector.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Naik Pradeep
• Cooper Clayton Stuart
• Vukanti Perumallu
• Benjamin Michael A
• Vise Steven C
• Mohan Sripathi
• Patra Ajoy
• Sampath Karthikeyan

Classifications

• F23R3/34

  Feeding into different combustion zones · CPC title

• F23R3/343

  Pilot flames, i.e. fuel nozzles or injectors using only a very small proportion of the total fuel to insure continuous combustion (ignition in gas-turbine plants F02C7/264; pilot flame igniters F23Q9/00) · CPC title

• F23R3/346 Primary

  for staged combustion · CPC title

• F23R3/425

  Combustion chambers comprising a tangential or helicoidal arrangement of the flame tubes · CPC title

• F23R3/50

  Combustion chambers comprising an annular flame tube within an annular casing (toroidal combustion chambers F23R3/52) · CPC title