Lean burn combustor

Abstract

A lean burn combustor includes a plurality of lean burn fuel injectors, each including a fuel feed arm and a lean burn fuel injector head with a lean burn fuel injector head tip, wherein the tip has a lean burn fuel injector head tip diameter, the lean burn fuel injector head including a pilot fuel injector and a main fuel injector, the main fuel injector being arranged coaxially and radially outwards of the pilot fuel injector; and a combustor chamber extending along an axial direction and including a radially inner annular wall, a radially outer annular wall, and a meter panel defining the size and shape of the combustor chamber, which includes a primary combustion zone with a primary combustion zone depth and a secondary combustion zone. A ratio of the primary combustion zone depth to the lean burn fuel injector head tip diameter is less than 2.4.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This specification is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from UK Patent Application Number 2019219.1 filed on Dec. 7, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUNDField of the Disclosure[0002]The present disclosure relates to combustion equipment, and in particular to lean burn combustors for gas turbine engines for aircraft, industrial, and marine applications.2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0003]A gas turbine engine for aircraft applications typically comprises, in axial flow arrangement, a fan, one or more compressors, a combustion system and one or more turbines. The combustion system typically comprises a plurality of fuel injectors having fuel spray nozzles which combine fuel and air flows and generate sprays of atomised liquid fuel into a combustion chamber. The mixture of air and atomised liquid fuel is then combusted in the combustion chamber and the resultant hot combustion produ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The design effectively reduces NOx and smoke emissions while maintaining combustion efficiency, allowing for scalable implementation across various engine sizes without compromising performance, improving engine operability and reducing pollutant production.

Problems solved by technology

On the other hand, keeping the combustion temperature relatively low could lead to incomplete or weak combustion, which in turn may lead to producing other pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), and / or flame instability and rumble, which in turn may cause fatigue failure of components in the engine and / or passenger discomfort, depending on the frequency of the rumbling.

Gas turbine engines for industrial and marine applications face similar challenges as gas turbine engines for aircraft applications.

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