Patent ID: 6360525
Filing Date: 2002-03-26
Classification: F23R,Y02T

Abstract:
A combustor for a gas turbine engine, comprising:a) an annular combustion chamber having radially inner and outer concentric walls and a combustor head wall at an upstream end, and b) a plurality of fuel injectors disposed in the combustor head wall, the fuel injectors being circumferentially spaced around the combustor head wall and disposed as a first radially outer row of injectors and a second radially inner row of injectors, the rows being concentric with the combustor head wall, the injectors in the first and second rows being disposed such that injectors in one of the rows are in angular registration with spaces between injectors in the other row, each fuel injector including: i) means for producing a fuel/air mixture having a swirling motion, ii) a mixing duct located downstream of the means for producing the fuel/air mixture, the mixing duct opening into the combustion chamber through the combustor head wall and having a length sufficient to allow at least partial homogenization of the fuel/air mixture before entry to the combustion chamber as a divergent swirling stream, iii) the mixing ducts in the first and second rows of injectors having longitudinal axes oriented to coincide with generating rays of respective first and second imaginary conical surfaces, the conical surfaces intersecting within a primary combustion zone in the combustion chamber, iv) the mixing ducts located in different rows being angled towards each other in a downstream direction, and v) the divergent swirling streams of the fuel/air mixture coming from the different rows crossing in the combustion chamber in an interdigitating manner.