Gas Turbine Combustor with Dual Fuel Injectors for NOx Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engines emit environmentally harmful toxins like nitrogen oxides (NOx), unburned hydrocarbons (UHC), and carbon monoxide (CO) due to high combustor flame temperatures, necessitating a solution to reduce NOx emissions while maintaining efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A combustor design featuring a primary and secondary fuel injector system, where hydrogen fuel is used in both injectors to control flame temperatures and NOx formation, with the secondary injector providing a late injection of fuel to further reduce NOx emissions and optimize combustion chamber geometry for efficient energy production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If hydrogen fuel is used in the combustor, then combustion efficiency and flame velocity are improved, but nitrogen oxide emissions increase due to higher flame temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The combustor is divided into a primary combustion zone and a secondary combustion zone with separate fuel injectors. The primary fuel injector introduces fuel into the primary zone where initial combustion occurs, while the secondary fuel injector introduces additional fuel into the secondary zone. This segmentation allows control over the combustion process in different zones, enabling efficient combustion while managing flame temperatures to reduce NOx emissions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the combustor are designed with different characteristics. The primary combustion zone is optimized for efficient fuel combustion, while the secondary combustion zone is designed to control flame temperature and reduce NOx formation. The secondary zone may have different geometry, cooling features, or fuel injection characteristics tailored to its specific function of temperature control and emission reduction.
2Weight of moving object
If combustor length is reduced to decrease weight, then engine weight is improved, but combustion completeness and temperature control become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The combustor is divided into distinct primary and secondary zones with separate fuel injection systems. This segmentation allows each zone to be optimized for specific functions within a compact overall length, enabling complete combustion and proper temperature control without requiring an excessively long combustor.
Solution Approach 2:
The primary fuel injector performs preliminary combustion in the first zone, preparing the combustion process before the secondary fuel injector introduces additional fuel in the second zone. This preliminary action ensures that combustion is already underway and controlled when the secondary fuel is added, maintaining combustion completeness and temperature control within a shorter overall combustor length.
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 design effectively lowers NOx emissions, increases engine efficiency, and reduces weight by using uncooled vanes and a shorter combustor length, while maintaining desirable temperature rises for engine operability and altitude relight capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
air and fuel are mixed, and then the fuel is burned in the presence of the air to produce hot gas
Implementation Method 2
hydrogen fuel is used in both injectors to control flame temperatures and NOx formation
Implementation Method 3
The hot gas is then fed to a turbine where it cools and expands to produce power
Data Source
AI summary
A gas turbine engine with a compressor section, a turbine section, and a combustion section located downstream from the compressor section and upstream from the turbine section, the combustion section including: a dome inlet, a combustor outlet fluidly coupled to the turbine section, a liner and a dome assembly together at least partially defining a combustion chamber extending between the dome inlet and the combustor outlet, a primary fuel injector fluidly coupled to the dome inlet, and a second fuel injector fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber.