Patent ID: 7992390

Claim:
A gas turbine engine comprising an external engine case; a fuel source; a combustor having an array of fuel nozzles including at least one starter nozzle, the at least one starter nozzle being less than half of the fuel nozzles of the array of fuel nozzles; and a manifold communicating between the fuel source and the array of fuel nozzles, the manifold being mounted circumferentially around an external side of the external engine case and the manifold having a tube assembly including a plurality of metal inner and outer tube pairs, an inner tube being disposed inside an outer tube and concentrically spaced apart from the outer tube by a spacer apparatus between the inner and outer tubes, the inner tube being rigid and in fluid communication with said at least one starter fuel nozzle for directing a primary fuel flow to said at least one starter fuel nozzle, the outer tube being rigid and in fluid communication with a remainder of the fuel nozzles of the array of fuel nozzles for directing a secondary fuel flow to said remainder of the fuel nozzles, the secondary fuel flow being greater than the primary fuel flow.