Patent ID: 8726666
Filing Date: 2014-05-20
Classification: F02C,F05D,F23C,F23D,F23R,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A fuel/air premixing apparatus for use upstream of the inlet of the main fluid flow path of an energy release/conversion system and separate from the heat release region of said energy release/conversion system, comprising: (a) a plurality of concentric, coplanar, non-circular aerodynamically shaped ring elements positioned upstream of said inlet, axially aligned within said flow path, each said ring element having an interior passage for fuel, each said ring element further comprising a plurality of fuel injection orifices whereby fuel may flow from said interior passage into the inlet fluid flow proximate to said ring, and wherein each pair of said ring elements defines an annular passage therebetween; wherein said rings are further adapted, whereby (b) a plurality of radially arranged, aerodynamically shaped spoke elements coplanar with said ring elements and interconnecting with said ring elements, at least one of said spoke elements having an interior passage for fuel, said interior passage within said spoke element being in fluid communication with said interior passages in the ring elements to which it is attached, the connected interior passages defined in said rings and said spokes further being in fluid communication with a fuel source; and (c) wherein said premixing apparatus is positioned on a trapped vortex cavity so that the fuel/air mixture is introduced into said trapped vortex cavity at an angle tangential to the recirculation flow within the cavity such that said fuel-air mixture joins the flow of said vortex approximately codirectionally with said vortex flow.