Hollow Plank Combustor Liner Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine combustor liners face durability challenges due to harsh heat and stress environments, with existing designs often suffering from hoop stress and limited modularity for maintenance and replacement.
Innovation Solution
A combustor liner configuration featuring a skeleton mesh structure supporting hollow planks made of ceramic or metal-coated materials, which reduces hoop stress and provides a lightweight, modular design for improved durability and ease of maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If solid planks are used in combustor liner, then structural strength is improved, but weight increases and hoop stress is not reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The combustor liner is divided into multiple hollow planks rather than using solid planks. Each plank is a segmented component with internal cavities, allowing the structure to maintain strength through strategic material placement while reducing overall weight by removing unnecessary material from the plank interiors.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow plank structure combines material strength with void spaces, creating a composite-like configuration that achieves optimal strength-to-weight ratio. The hollow design allows for potential coating applications (ceramic or metal) on internal surfaces, further enhancing material utilization and protective capabilities while maintaining lightweight characteristics.
2Weight of moving object
If hollow plank design is used, then weight is reduced and hoop stress is minimized, but structural strength may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The hollow planks are segmented into multiple manageable components that can be individually designed and optimized. Each plank's hollow structure is segmented to provide necessary structural support while minimizing weight, with the segmentation allowing for strategic reinforcement at critical locations without requiring solid construction throughout.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow plank design applies local quality by providing material only where structurally necessary and using hollow sections where weight reduction is prioritized. The design varies material distribution locally within each plank to match stress patterns, reinforcing areas subject to higher loads while maintaining hollow configurations in lower-stress regions.
3Ease of repair
If modular hollow plank design is implemented, then ease of maintenance and replacement is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The combustor liner is segmented into multiple discrete hollow planks that can be independently removed, inspected, and replaced. This segmentation enables modular maintenance where only damaged planks need to be accessed and replaced rather than requiring removal of the entire liner assembly, significantly improving ease of repair despite the increased number of individual components.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow planks are designed as universal, interchangeable components with standardized mounting interfaces and configurations. Each plank serves multiple functions: structural support, heat management through hollow cavities, and potential coating applications. This universality allows any plank to be replaced with an identical unit, simplifying inventory management and maintenance procedures despite the modular complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A combustor includes an inner liner and an outer liner defining a combustion chamber. The inner liner includes an inner mesh structure, and a plurality of inner planks mounted to the inner mesh structure. The outer liner includes an outer mesh structure, and a plurality of outer planks mounted to the outer mesh structure. Each of the plurality of inner planks and outer planks includes an inner wall, an outer wall, and lateral walls defining a cavity to allow circulation of airflow within the cavity to cool down the inner wall.