Patent ID: 7117676

Claim:
A combustion system for use in a gas powered turbine which combusts a fuel in the presence of an oxidizer comprising: a first injector member to inject a first volume of fuel into a volume of said oxidizer; a mixer to mix said volume of oxidizer with said first volume of fuel; a heater to heat said volume of oxidizer to form a volume of high energy oxidizer; a second injector member to inject a second volume of fuel into said volume of high energy oxidizer; wherein substantially all the fuel provided through said second injector member reaches a temperature at substantially the same time; wherein said heater comprises: a fuel supply system to provide said first volume of said fuel to said volume of oxidizer: a heat exchanger including: a heater pathway extending along a first axis; a cooling pathway extending along a second axis; wherein said heater pathway is in thermal contact with said cooling pathway; wherein the oxidizer is adapted to first flow through said cooling pathway and then through said heater pathway; and wherein said volume of oxidizer is adapted to first flow past said heater pathway through said cooling pathway, thereby receiving thermal energy from said heater pathway.