Swirler for a burner of a gas turbine engine

Abstract

A fuel injection structure for a swirler of a burner of a gas turbine engine, wherein the swirler includes a plurality of vanes and a plurality of mixing channels between the vanes to channel air from a radially outer end of the mixing channel to a radially inner end of the mixing channel, of the fuel injection structure which includes at least two injection ports to inject fuel into the channeled air. A swirler for a burner of a gas turbine engine, and a burner of a gas turbine engine and a gas turbine engine includes the fuel injection structure.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is the US National Stage of International Application No. PCT / EP2015 / 051612 filed Jan. 27, 2015, and claims the benefit thereof. The International Application claims the benefit of European Application No. EP14154756 filed Feb. 11, 2014. All of the applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.FIELD OF INVENTION[0002]The present invention is related to a fuel injection means for a swirler of a burner of a gas turbine engine, the swirler comprising a plurality of vanes and a plurality of mixing channels between the vanes to channel air from a radially outer end of the mixing channel to a radially inner end of the mixing channel, the fuel injection means comprising at least two injection ports to inject fuel into the channelled air. Further, the invention is related to a swirler for a burner of a gas turbine engine, comprising fuel injection means, a plurality of vanes and plurality of mixing channels ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides fuel injection means, a swirler, a burner, and a gas turbine engine that can operate at different load levels and improve efficiency, especially at low loads, in an easy and cost efficient way. A spring loaded mechanism is enabled to be driven by the pressure of the fuel to be injected, which allows for a higher force of the fuel against a spring of the spring loaded mechanism, making it a easy way to control. The injection ports are arranged in a counter-flow or a co-flow or a vertical spiral direction in respect to a direction of the channelled air, which allows for an adaptation to the specification and demands of the gas turbine engines to be used in, resulting in a highly efficient operation of the gas turbine engine.

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, during part load operations of the gas turbine engine, poor mixing of fuel and air can occur.

The reliability of the gas turbine engine may be affected by such poor mixing of fuel and air.

In addition, due to poor mixing, a good portion of liquid fuel cannot atomize and therefore liquid ligaments often attach and / or are deposited to the internal surface of the components and form a carbon buildup.

When running the gas turbine engine at a part load or at a low load, the engine may suffer from disadvantages such as obstruction of fuel injection ports by carbon build-up, poor ignition caused by obstructed igniter ports and / or pre-chamber covering with carbon build-up which may result in long-term damage of the gas turbine engine.

This leads to a burn-off of a portion of the carbon build-up.

However, this method is highly inefficient and is especially non-applicable for very low loads.

This procedure is both expensive and increases the downtime of the gas turbine engine.

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