Combustor Aft Mount Assembly Inner Diameter Bracket
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional inner diameter mounts for gas turbine combustors are difficult to use due to restricted access, while outer diameter mounts pose thermal risks, necessitating an improved aft mount assembly that provides ease of access and assembly while avoiding thermal issues.
Innovation Solution
A combustor aft mount assembly with an inner diameter mounting system, featuring a mounting bracket with circumferentially extending bolting wings that allow secure bolt placement adjacent to the combustor, facilitating easy access and assembly while minimizing thermal risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional inner diameter mounts are used to secure combustors, then thermal risks are avoided, but ease of access and assembly are significantly restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting system is divided into separate functional elements: the combustor assembly with its own mounting features, and the compressor discharge casing with corresponding mounting structures. This segmentation allows the combustor to be mounted from the inner diameter while maintaining thermal safety, as the mounting interface is separated from the hot combustion zone.
Solution Approach 2:
Mounting brackets or adapter structures serve as intermediaries between the combustor and the compressor discharge casing. These intermediary components provide accessible mounting points that maintain the thermal safety of inner diameter mounting while enabling easier access for assembly and maintenance operations.
2Ease of operation
If outer diameter mounts are used to improve ease of access, then assembly becomes easier, but thermal risks to the transition piece and stage one nozzle seal increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of mounting from the outer diameter as conventionally done, the system inverts the mounting approach by securing the combustor from the inner diameter of the compressor discharge casing. This inversion maintains thermal safety by keeping mounting hardware away from hot exhaust gases, while the inverted bracket design provides adequate access for assembly operations.
3Device complexity
If the transition piece and combustion liner are combined into a unibody component to decrease the number of individual components, then device complexity is reduced, but access to the underside of the combustor is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
While the transition piece and combustion liner are combined into a unibody component, the mounting system is segmented into separate attachable brackets and mounting features. This allows the combustor assembly to be secured to the compressor discharge casing through these separate mounting elements, providing access pathways that would be blocked by a completely integrated unibody design.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application provides a gas turbine engine. The gas turbine engine may include a compressor discharge casing, a number of combustors configured in an annular array, and a number of aft mounting assemblies. An aft mounting assembly mounts a combustor to an inner diameter of the compressor discharge casing.