Patent ID: 8196411

Claim:
A swirler for use in a burner of a gas turbine engine, comprising: a plurality of wedge shaped vanes arranged in a circle, the wedge shaped vanes each having a thin end disposed radially inwardly, a broad end opposite the thin end disposed radially outwardly, a first side arranged between the thin and broad ends, a second side opposite the first side; a plurality of radially directed flow slots defined between adjacent vanes in the circle, wherein each flow slot extends from a radially outward facing inlet to a radially inward facing outlet, to direct an air flow towards a central space within the circle, wherein fuel is supplied into the flow slot, such that a mixture of fuel and air enters the central space, wherein an edge at the thin end of at least one vane is split into two sections, the split created by forming wedge shaped vanes from lower and upper component wedge shaped vanes that are oriented with an angular offset with respect to one another to create first and second ledges within the first and second sides of the wedge shaped vanes, and wherein the fuel is supplied to the flow slot from at least one of the said first and second sides and from both said lower and upper component wedge shaped vanes that are oriented with said angular offset with respect to one another.