Patent ID: 7484352

Claim:
A combustor for a gas turbine comprising: a burner system having a plurality of burners, wherein the burners are grouped into at least two burner groups, wherein each burner group has at least one burner; a fuel supply system having a main line connectable to a fuel source; a controllable distribution valve for each burner group connected to the fuel supply system, and auxiliary lines that connect each distribution valve to all burners in a group such that each distribution valve is enabled to vary the total fuel flow of a burner group; a combustion chamber having an inlet at which the burners are positioned; a sensing system configured and arranged, for each burner group, to separately measure values which correlate to pressure pulsations, to emissions, or to both, which occur in the combustion chamber; and a control system connected to the sensing system and connected to the distribution valves, the control system configured and arranged, in dependence upon the pulsation values, the emission values, or both, to control the distribution valves so that in each burner group the pulsation values, the emission values, or both, assume or fall below, predetermined threshold values.