Patent GB-818063-A (GB)
Title: Gas turbine plant acting as generator of gas under pressure
IPC: F02C3/045
Filed: 1955-11-09
Abstract: 818,063. Gas turbines; centrifugal compressors. DENIS, L. D. H., and SERRUYS, M. Y. A. Nov. 9, 1955 [Nov. 10, 1954], No. 32071/55. Classes 110 (1) and 110 (3). A gas turbine plant comprises a casing having an air inlet port at one end and a gas exhaust port at the other end, a rotor within the casing, radial or semi-radial blades on the rotor forming an outward-flow compressor at the inlet end and forming an inward-flow turbine at the exhaust end, and means for injecting and igniting a combustible fluid in at least one zone of the space between the inlet port and the exhaust port. The rotor comprises a body of revolution 1, Fig. 4, carrying radial blades 4 which form a centrifugal compressor at 5 and a centripetal turbine at 6, separated by a zone 7 in which the flow is more or less parallel to the rotor axis. The blades 4 may be omitted over the zone 7. Fuel injection and ignition can take place in any or all of the regions 5, 6, 7. The casing 11 may be fixed to the rotor blades instead of being stationary, in which case the fuel injectors and ignition plugs are arranged inside the body 1 and supplied through the inside of the shaft 2; the rotating casing may be surrounded by a stationary casing, the space between them being filled with nydrogen to reduce heat losses and friction. The hydrogen may be at high pressure to counteract centrifugal force on the rotor. The fuel may be injected into some only of the channels between the blades 4, say each alternate channel. Annular partitions may be provided, to divide the flow into three annular sections, with injection of fuel into the intermediate section only. Where combustion takes place in the zone 7 the latter may be provided with supplementary radial blades to form channels into which fuel is not injected. Alternatively, double walls may be provided along radial blades, the outer casing and the rotor hub, fuel being injected into the space between the double walls. The portion of the air in which fuel is not burnt may be mixed subsequently with the combustion gases or may be used for another purpose, such as the provision of compressed air or the production of a separate cycle. A gaseous or liquid cooling medium may be contained within the rotor. The injection of fuel may be intermittent instead of continuous. The unit may be self-driving, the exhaust being used to drive a separate turbine which provides the useful output. Alternatively, the unit may be driven by the useful output turbine 22, Fig. 8, mounted on the same shaft, and may be preceded by an axial-flow or centrifugal compressor (not shown). Fig. 10 shows a plant comprising one or more centrifugal or axial-flow compressors 28 with, it may be, one or more interstage heat exchangers, followed by an exhaust gas preheater 35 and the turbine compressor unit 29. The latter supplies combustion gas to one or more turbines 30 of the inward-flow or radial-flow type, separated as may be necessary by combustion chambers 31. One at least of the turbines 30 drives the compressors 28 and the unit 29, and the other turbines 30 or the whole assembly provide the useful output.