Patent ID: 8256221

Claim:
In a gas turbine engine comprising a compressor, a catalytic combustor receiving compressed air from the compressor, and a turbine receiving hot combustion gas from the catalytic combustor, an assembly of the catalytic combustor comprising: a plurality of separate pie-shaped segments forming a disk around a central region for retaining a plurality of tubes having a catalyst disposed on at least a portion of surfaces of the tubes in a concentrically spaced apart configuration, each segment comprising: a support member radially extending along an upstream face of the segment; a plurality of annularly curved support arms transversely attached to the support member and radially spaced apart from one another away from the central region for receiving respective upstream end portions of the tubes in arc-shaped spaces between the arms; a radial passageway formed in the support member for receiving a fluid segment portion; and a plurality of annular passageways formed in the support arms for receiving respective arm portions of the fluid segment portion from the radial passageway and for conducting the respective arm portions into corresponding annular spaces formed between the tubes retained by the disk.