Patent ID: 6895756

Claim:
An afterburner apparatus comprising: an expanding burner having an inlet; a swirl generator that is coupled to the inlet of the burner, the swirl generator being operable for converting an oxidizer flow into a three-dimensional flowfield that includes a substantial tangential velocity component, the swirl generator including a flow defining means and a fueling means, the flow defining means being operable for effecting both an outer recirculation zone and a central recirculation zone in the burner, the outer recirculation zone being toroidal in shape, the central recirculation zone being disposed inwardly of the outer recirculation zone, the fueling means being operable for fueling the outer and central recirculation zones; and a variable area nozzle receiving combustion byproducts produced during combustion in the burner and producing propulsive thrust in response thereto; wherein heat and the combustion byproducts produced during combustion are carried upstream by the outer and central recirculation zones where the heat and combustion byproducts are employed to continuously ignite a combustible fuel/oxidizer mixture in a shear layer adjacent each of the outer and central recirculation zones.