Patent ID: 8474269

Claim:
A method of detecting a partial flame failure in a gas turbine engine, the gas turbine engine includes a gas duct to guide a propulsion gas and includes a plurality of combustors, the method comprising: measuring a first temperature over time at each of at least two probing points located in the gas duct downstream from the plurality of combustors; measuring a second temperature over time in each of at least two of a plurality of burners; and detecting a partial e failure from the first temperature measurement and the second temperature measurement, wherein each of the plurality of combustors leads into the gas duct and includes a burner, and wherein the detecting of the partial flame failure includes determining a first detection parameter, the first detection parameter is determined from a first rate of change of a first variation between a plurality of first temperature measurements at a plurality of different probing points whereby the first detection parameter is determined by calculating a smoothed first rate of change of a first variation, wherein the detecting of the partial flame failure further includes determining a second detection parameter, and wherein the second detection parameter is determined from a second variation between a plurality of second rates of change of a plurality of second temperature measurements in a plurality of different burners.