Systems and methods for control of combustion dynamics and modal coupling in gas turbine engine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9644846-B2
Application number	US-201414248194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2014
Priority date	Apr 8, 2014
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A gas turbine engine system including a first combustor having a first fuel nozzle and a second combustor having a second fuel nozzle. The system further includes a first acoustic adjuster having a first drive coupled to a first piston with a first fuel orifice. The first piston is disposed along a first fuel passage leading to the first fuel nozzle of the first combustor. The system further includes a second acoustic adjuster having a second drive coupled to a second piston with a second fuel orifice. The second piston is disposed along a second fuel passage leading to the second fuel nozzle of the second combustor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a gas turbine engine, comprising:
a first combustor comprising a first fuel nozzle;
a second combustor comprising a second fuel nozzle;
a first acoustic adjuster having a first drive coupled to a first piston with a first fuel orifice, wherein the first piston is disposed along a first fuel passage leading to the first fuel nozzle, and wherein the first drive is coupled to a first rotational disk system having a first plurality of perforated discs; and
a second acoustic adjuster having a second drive coupled to a second piston with a second fuel orifice, wherein the second piston is disposed along a second fuel passage leading to the second fuel nozzle, and wherein the second drive is coupled to a second rotational disk system having a second plurality of perforated disks.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gas turbine engine comprises a controller configured to control the first drive or the second drive to vary a fuel system acoustic impedance of the first fuel nozzle or the second fuel nozzle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first drive of the first acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a first axial position of the first piston to vary a first distance between the first fuel orifice and the first fuel nozzle.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the second drive of the second acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a second axial position of the second piston to vary a second distance between the second fuel orifice and the second fuel nozzle, wherein the first distance is different from the second distance.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the first axial position of the first piston corresponds to a first acoustic volume between the first fuel orifice and a first post-orifice along the first fuel passage, and the second axial position of the second piston corresponds to a second acoustic volume between the second fuel orifice and a second post-orifice along the second fuel passage, and wherein the first acoustic volume is different than the second acoustic volume.

6. A system, comprising:
a first combustor, comprising:
a first fuel nozzle comprising a first fuel post-orifice;
a second fuel nozzle comprising a second fuel post-orifice;
a first acoustic adjuster having a first drive coupled to a first piston with a first fuel pre-orifice, wherein the first piston is disposed along a first fuel passage leading to the first fuel post-orifice, wherein the first piston is coupled to a first rotational disk system comprising a first plurality of perforated plates, and wherein the first drive is configured to adjust a first rotational position of a first plate of the first plurality of perforated plates to form a first interference pattern in orifices between the first plurality of perforated plates; and
a second acoustic adjuster having a second drive coupled to a second piston with a second fuel pre-orifice, wherein the second piston is disposed along a second fuel passage leading to the second fuel post-orifice.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein a gas turbine engine comprises a controller configured to control the first drive or the second drive to vary a fuel system acoustic impedance of the first fuel nozzle or the second fuel nozzle.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the second piston is coupled to a second rotational disk system comprising a second plurality of perforated plates, and wherein the second drive is configured to adjust a second rotational position of a second plate of the second plurality of perforated plates to form a second interference pattern in the orifices between the second plurality of perforated plates.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first and second drives are configured to selectively change the first and second interference patterns to be different from one another.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first interference pattern corresponds to a first fuel system acoustic impedance characteristic of the first fuel nozzle, and the second interference pattern corresponds to a second fuel system acoustic impedance characteristic of the second fuel nozzle, and wherein the first fuel system acoustic impedance characteristic is different from a second fuel system acoustic impedance characteristic.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first and second fuel system acoustic impedance characteristics comprises a phase or a magnitude.

12. The system of claim 6 , comprising at least one controller coupled to the first drive and the second drive.

13. The system of claim 6 , wherein the first drive of the first acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a first axial position of the first piston, and the second drive of the second acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a second axial position of the second piston.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the first axial position of the first piston corresponds to a first acoustic volume between the first fuel pre-orifice and the first post-orifice along the first fuel passage, and the second axial position of the second piston corresponds to a second acoustic volume between the second fuel pre-orifice and the second post-orifice along the second fuel passage, and wherein the first acoustic volume is different from the second acoustic volume.

15. A system, comprising:
a gas turbine engine, comprising:
a first fuel nozzle comprising a first fuel post-orifice;
a first acoustic adjuster having a first drive coupled to a first piston with a first fuel pre-orifice, wherein the first piston is disposed along a first fuel passage leading to the first fuel post-orifice of the first fuel nozzle, and wherein the first piston is coupled to a first rotational disk system, wherein the first rotational disk system comprises:
a first plate and a second plate;
a central plate disposed in between the first plate and the second plate; and
a plurality of orifices disposed on the first plate, the second plate, and the central plate, wherein the plurality of orifices create a plurality of channels passing through the first rotational disk system.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first drive of the first acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a first rotational position of the central plate to adjust an interference pattern of the plurality of orifices between the first plate and the second plate, and wherein adjusting the interference pattern comprises adjusting a cross-sectional area of each channel within the plurality of channels passing through the first rotational disk system.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the first drive of the first acoustic adjuster is configured to adjust a first axial position of the first piston to vary a first distance between the first fuel pre-orifice and the first fuel post-orifice.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Stevenson Christian Xavier
• Crothers Sarah Lori

Classifications

• F23R2900/03342

  Arrangement of silo-type combustion chambers · CPC title

• F23R2900/00013

  Reducing thermo-acoustic vibrations by active means · CPC title

• F23R3/286

  having fuel-air premixing devices (F23R3/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F23M20/005

  Noise absorbing means · CPC title

• F05D2260/964

  counteracting thermoacoustic noise · CPC title