Patent ID: 7506511

Claim:
A gas turbine engine comprising: a compressor having an inlet and a compressed air outlet; a turbine having at least an inlet; an annular combustor disposed between the compressor and the turbine, the annular combustor including: an inner annular liner having an upstream end and a downstream end; an outer annular liner having an upstream end and a downstream end, the outer annular liner spaced apart from, and at least partially surrounding, the inner annular liner; a dome assembly coupled between the upstream ends of the inner and outer annular liners to define a combustion chamber therebetween; a plurality of main fuel injector assemblies coupled to the dome assembly in a substantially circular pattern of a first radius, each main fuel injector assembly including an outlet port having a first divergence angle; and a plurality of pilot fuel injector assemblies coupled to the dome assembly in a substantially circular pattern of a second radius, each pilot fuel injector assembly disposed between at least two main fuel injectors, and each including an outlet port having a second divergence angle, wherein each of the main and pilot fuel injector assemblies comprise: a swirler assembly having at least a fuel inlet port, a first air inlet port in fluid communication with the compressed air outlet, a second air inlet port in fluid communication with the compressed air outlet, and a fuel/air outlet port in fluid communication with the fuel inlet port, the first and second air inlet ports, and the combustion chamber, the fuel/air outlet port of each main and pilot fuel injector assembly swirler assembly is disposed such that when air is supplied to its first and second air inlet ports, the air supplied to its first and second air inlet ports is discharged from its fuel/air outlet port, and a fuel injector mounted at least partially within the fuel inlet port, and wherein: the fuel/air outlet port of each main fuel injector assembly swirler assembly is configured with the first divergence angle, and the fuel/air outlet port of each pilot fuel injector assembly swirler assembly is configured with the second divergence angle, and the first divergence angle is non-zero and less than the second divergence angle.