Coaxial Radial Compressor Combustion Engine Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional gas turbine engines are complex and heavy due to the large number of components, including rotatable parts, which makes them costly and volumetrically inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A combustion engine design featuring a radial compressor and an annular compressor-combustor array that are co-axial and rotatable around a central axis, with a simplified configuration that includes fewer moving parts, utilizing an array of flow turning vanes, rotor blades with pilot combustion chambers, and a main combustion chamber that reduces the number of components and enhances compactness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional gas turbine engine design is used, then reliable power generation is achieved, but the engine becomes complex and heavy due to multiple components including separate turbine and compressor assemblies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the turbine and compressor into a single integrated assembly where the turbine is positioned radially outward of the compressor and they share a common axis. This merging eliminates the need for separate turbine and compressor housings, reducing the total number of components while maintaining reliable power generation through the integrated design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple rotatable parts are used in the engine, then functional requirements are met, but the engine weight increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The turbine and compressor are merged into a single rotatable assembly that functions as one integrated unit. This combination reduces the number of separate rotatable parts and their associated support structures, bearings, and housings, thereby significantly reducing engine weight while maintaining the necessary functional capabilities of both compression and power generation.
3Ease of manufacture
If a simplified engine design with fewer parts is implemented, then manufacturing cost and complexity are reduced, but the engine must still produce equivalent power output
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from conventional axial flow paths to a radial flow configuration where fluid moves radially through the compressor and turbine stages. This dimensional change in flow path geometry allows for more compact staging and better packing of compression and expansion stages within a smaller volume, maintaining equivalent power output while simplifying the overall engine architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
By integrating the turbine and compressor into a single assembly with shared housing and common axis, the patent reduces manufacturing complexity and component count while preserving the power generation capability through optimized radial staging that maintains equivalent power output to conventional designs.
4Power
If conventional turbo machinery configuration is used, then established performance is achieved, but the engine occupies larger volumetric space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs radial flow paths instead of conventional axial arrangements, allowing compression and expansion stages to be stacked in a radial configuration. This enables more efficient use of volumetric space by packing stages in a compact radial pattern rather than extending axially, achieving equivalent power output in a smaller overall engine volume.
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
The design results in a more robust, volumetrically smaller, and cost-effective combustion engine with reduced manufacturing complexity, achieving equivalent power outputs while minimizing the number of moving parts and eliminating the need for a separate turbine.
Implementation Method 1
The fuel injector may comprise a hollow tube with at least one aperture to deliver fuel from inside the tube to the pilot combustion zone
Implementation Method 2
passages being provided in walls of the housing for the delivery of fluid from a source of compressed fluid to a clearance gap provided between the compressor-combustor and the housing, operable to provide an air bearing
Data Source
AI summary
A combustion engine comprising a radial compressor in flow communication via a flow passage with an annular compressor-combustor array radially outward of the radial compressor. Both the radial compressor and compressor-combustor are co-axial with, and rotatable around, a central axis.