Gas Turbine Burner Vortex Mixing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Sequential combustion gas turbines face challenges in optimizing fuel mixing with compressed air, leading to high NOx and CO emissions due to inefficient design of the burner and lance, which results in suboptimal combustion processes.
Innovation Solution
The burner design incorporates a tubular body with strategically positioned vortex generators and a lance with nozzle groups in a specific injection plane, optimizing fuel injection into a region of high turbulence and swirl, with precise geometric ratios to enhance mixing efficiency and reduce emissions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the nozzles groups are symmetrically placed in a plane far from the vortex generators to simplify manufacturing, then the manufacturing complexity is reduced, but the fuel mixing quality deteriorates leading to high NOx emissions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the burner system, specifically the ratio x/L between the axial distance from vortex generator trailing edges to the injection plane and the tubular body length. By optimizing this ratio to be less than 0.1052, the invention achieves both simplified manufacturing (symmetrical nozzle placement) and reduced NOx emissions (improved mixing quality) simultaneously.
2Device complexity
If the injection plane is placed far from the vortex generators to ease manufacturing, then the device complexity is reduced, but the mixing efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention optimizes the geometric parameter x/L (ratio of axial distance from vortex generator trailing edges to injection plane divided by tubular body length) to be less than 0.1052. This parameter optimization enables the injection plane to be positioned closer to the vortex generators, improving fuel-air mixing quality while maintaining manufacturability through symmetrical nozzle placement.
3Device complexity
If the lance injects fuel into a region with insufficient turbulence and swirl, then the injection system is simplified, but the combustion performance deteriorates with high CO and NOx emissions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses vortex generators to create turbulence and swirl in the gas flow before the fuel injection point. By positioning the injection plane at an optimized distance from the vortex generators (x/L < 0.1052), the fuel is injected into a region that has already been pre-conditioned with high turbulence and swirl, improving combustion performance and reducing emissions without complicating the injection system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly reduces NOx and CO emissions by improving fuel-air mixing quality, achieving better combustion performance without increasing manufacturing complexity or costs.
Implementation Method 1
four tetrahedral in shape vortex generators, arranged to generate four pairs of counter rotating vortices
Implementation Method 2
the fuel mixes with the compressed air and generates a mixture to be burnt
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary burner of a gas turbine includes a tubular body with an inlet for an entrance of an air flow, downstream of inlet vortex generators, and a lance projecting into the tubular body and having a terminal portion extending along a longitudinal axis of the burner which is provided with nozzle groups for injecting fuel into the tubular body. The nozzle groups can lay in an injection plane perpendicular to the axis of the terminal portion of the lance. Downstream of the lance, the burner has an outlet. A ratio x/L between an axial distance x between the side trailing edge of the vortex generator and the injection plane, and the length L of the tubular body can be less than approximately 0.1052.