Turbine engine assembly and dual fuel aircraft system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9765691-B2
Application number	US-201314655760-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2013
Priority date	Dec 28, 2012
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A turbine engine assembly including a turbine core and a cryogenic fuel system. The turbine core includes: a compressor section; a combustion section; and a turbine section, which are axially aligned. The a cryogenic fuel system includes: a cryogenic fuel reservoir; a vaporizer heat exchanger; a liquid supply line operably coupling the fuel reservoir to an input of the vaporizer heat exchanger; a gas supply line operably coupling an output of the vaporizer heat exchanger to the combustion section; and a second heat exchanger thermally connecting the liquid supply line and the gas supply line to transfer heat from the gas supply line to the liquid supply line.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A turbine engine assembly, comprising:
a turbine core, comprising:
a compressor section;
a combustion section; and
a turbine section, which are all axially aligned; and

a cryogenic fuel system, comprising:
a cryogenic fuel reservoir;
a vaporizer heat exchanger;
a liquid supply line operably coupling the cryogenic fuel reservoir to an input of the vaporizer heat exchanger;
a gas supply line operably coupling an output of the vaporizer heat exchanger to the combustion section; and
a second heat exchanger thermally connecting the liquid supply line and the gas supply line to transfer heat from the gas supply line to the liquid supply line.

2. The engine assembly of claim 1 wherein the second heat exchanger is a regenerator heat exchanger.

3. The engine assembly of claim 2 wherein the regenerator heat exchanger comprises a first side fluidly coupled between the fuel reservoir and the input of the vaporizer heat exchanger.

4. The engine assembly of claim 3 wherein the regenerator heat exchanger comprises a second side fluidly coupled between the output of the vaporizer heat exchanger and the combustion section of the turbine engine assembly.

5. The engine assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a bypass line having an input fluidly located between the output of the vaporizer heat exchanger and the second side of the regenerator heat exchanger and an output fluidly coupled to the combustion section of the turbine engine assembly.

6. The engine assembly of claim 1 , further comprising a liquid metering valve in fluid communication with the liquid supply line and controlling a flow rate of liquid fuel.

7. The engine assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cryogenic fuel is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

8. The engine assembly of claim 2 , further comprising a liquid metering valve in fluid communication with the liquid supply line and controlling a flow rate of liquid fuel.

9. The engine assembly of claim 2 , wherein the cryogenic fuel is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

10. The engine assembly of claim 3 , wherein the cryogenic fuel is Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

11. The engine assembly of claim 3 , further comprising a liquid metering valve in fluid communication with the liquid supply line and controlling a flow rate of liquid fuel.

12. The engine assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a gas metering valve in fluid communication with the gas supply line and controlling a flow rate of gas through the second side of the regenerator heat exchanger.

13. The engine assembly of claim 4 , further comprising a liquid metering valve in fluid communication with the liquid supply line and controlling a flow rate of liquid fuel.

14. A dual fuel aircraft system for an aircraft turbine engine having a combustion section, comprising:
a first fuel system for controlling a flow of a first fuel from a first fuel tank to the aircraft turbine engine; and
a second fuel system for controlling a flow of cryogenic fuel to the aircraft turbine engine, comprising:
a cryogenic fuel reservoir;
a vaporizer heat exchanger;
a liquid supply line operably coupling the cryogenic fuel reservoir to an input of the vaporizer heat exchanger;
a gas supply line operably coupling an output of the vaporizer heat exchanger to the combustion section; and
a second heat exchanger thermally connecting the liquid supply line and the gas supply line to transfer heat from the gas supply line to the liquid supply line.

15. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 14 wherein the second heat exchanger is a regenerator heat exchanger.

16. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 15 wherein the regenerator heat exchanger comprises a first side fluidly coupled between the fuel reservoir and the input of the vaporizer heat exchanger.

17. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 16 wherein the regenerator heat exchanger comprises a second side fluidly coupled between the output of the vaporizer heat exchanger and the combustion section of the aircraft turbine engine.

18. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 17 , further comprising a bypass line having an input fluidly located between the output of the vaporizer heat exchanger and the second side of the regenerator heat exchanger and an output fluidly coupled to the combustion section of the aircraft turbine engine.

19. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 18 , further comprising a gas metering valve in fluid communication with the gas supply line and controlling a flow rate of gas through the second side of the regenerator heat exchanger.

20. The dual fuel aircraft system of claim 14 , further comprising a liquid metering valve in fluid communication with the liquid supply line and controlling the flow rate of liquid fuel.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Delgado Adon
• Buchholz Todd James
• Mathias Christopher Dale

Classifications

• F02C3/30 Primary

  Adding water, steam or other fluids {for influencing combustion, e.g. to obtain cleaner exhaust gases (F02C7/141, F02C7/30, F01D21/00, F01K21/04, F23D11/10 take precedence)} · CPC title

• F02C7/224

  Heating fuel before feeding to the burner · CPC title

• Y02T50/676

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F02C9/40

  specially adapted to the use of a special fuel or a plurality of fuels · CPC title

• F05D2260/213

  by the provision of a heat exchanger within the cooling circuit · CPC title