Patent ID: 8322142

Claim:
A combustor for combusting a mixture of fuel and air, the combustor comprising: a swirlerhead for receiving a flow of air and a flow of fuel, the fuel and air being mixed together under the influence of the swirlerhead, the swirlerhead comprising a plurality of swirler slots configured to impart a swirling flow to the fuel/air mixture; a prechamber in fluid communication with the swirlerhead for receiving the swirling fuel/air mixture, the prechamber being a cylindrical member oriented along a central axis and having an inner imperforate wall and an outer wall, the prechamber configured to impart an axial flow to the swirling fuel/air mixture in a downstream direction along the central axis, thereby creating a vortex flow of the fuel/air mixture having a low pressure region along the central axis; a combustion chamber in fluid communication with and downstream of the prechamber, the combustion chamber having an outer wall coupled to the outer wall of the prechamber, the combustion chamber having a greater flow area than a flow area of the prechamber, thereby permitting the vortex to expand radially and create a recirculation zone in which combustion products from combustion of the fuel/air within the combustion chamber are drawn upstream along the central axis back into the prechamber; and a trapped vortex chamber disposed radially outwardly from the prechamber, the trapped vortex chamber being partially defined by the inner imperforate wall of the prechamber, the trapped vortex chamber configured to receive fuel/air from an outer perimeter of the vortex into the cavity and to exhaust combustion products into the vortex.