Continuous Combustion Liner Leakage Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
High pressure combustion gases tend to leak out of the hot gas path at the joint between the combustion liner and the transition duct in gas turbines, affecting overall performance, and existing solutions do not effectively prevent this leakage while supporting late lean fuel injection.
Innovation Solution
A continuously extending combustion liner with a conical section having a circular cross section that diverges and a transition section with a non-circular cross section, which reduces leakage and supports late lean fuel injection by maintaining a uniform radial spacing of fuel injectors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a continuous transition duct with non-circular cross section is used, then leakage prevention is improved, but fuel injector uniform spacing is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The combustion liner is divided into two distinct sections: a conical section with circular cross-section for uniform fuel injector spacing, and a transition section with non-circular cross-section for leakage prevention. This segmentation allows each section to optimize its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Different cross-sectional geometries are applied to different axial locations of the combustion liner. The circular cross-section is used where fuel injectors are mounted to ensure uniform spacing, while the non-circular cross-section is used in the transition region to prevent leakage, creating local quality variations matched to functional requirements.
2Ease of manufacture
If a joint is formed between combustion liner and transition duct, then assembly flexibility is improved, but combustion gas leakage occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The combustion liner and transition duct are merged into a single continuous component with no joint between them. This eliminates the leakage path that would exist at a joint interface while maintaining the assembly flexibility benefits of modular design through other means.
Solution Approach 2:
The transition section of the combustion liner acts as an intermediary geometry that smoothly connects the circular cross-section region to the non-circular cross-section region, providing a continuous barrier against combustion gas leakage while accommodating the geometric transition needed for different functional zones.
3Use of energy by moving object
If late lean fuel injection is supported, then thermodynamic efficiency is improved, but leakage prevention becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The combustion liner geometry dynamically transitions from circular to non-circular cross-section along its length, allowing the structure to adapt to different functional requirements at different locations while maintaining continuous leakage prevention, thereby enabling advanced fuel injection strategies for improved thermodynamic efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A combustion liner for a gas turbine combustor includes an annular main body having a forward end axially separated from an aft end, and a transitional intersection defined between the forward end and the aft end. The main body extends continuously from the forward end to the aft end. A plurality of fuel injector passages extend radially through the main body upstream from the transitional intersection. The main body comprises a conical section having a circular cross section that diverges between the forward end and the transitional intersection, and a transition section having a non-circular cross section that extends from the transitional intersection to the aft end of the main body.