Nested Fuel Injector for Gas Turbine Emission Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Gas turbine engines produce pollutants like NOx and CO due to non-ideal combustion of combustible materials, and existing fuel injection methods do not effectively reduce these emissions.
Innovation Solution
A fuel injector design with a first tube supplied with fuel and multiple second tubes supplied with air, featuring injection holes that allow for staged combustion and tailored fuel/air ratios to decrease pollutant emissions by reusing combustion products and optimizing fuel delivery through varying numbers of injection holes along the flowpath.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-generated harmful factors
If fuel is injected into the transition piece to mix with high energy fluid, then temperature and energy of high energy fluids increase and pollutant emissions reduce, but device complexity increases due to additional injection system components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nested tubes where inner tubes are positioned within outer tubes. The inner tubes receive fuel and the outer tubes receive air, creating a compact nested structure that reduces spatial requirements and simplifies overall system layout while maintaining effective fuel injection and mixing capabilities in the transition piece.
Solution Approach 2:
The injection system is divided into multiple segmented tubes (inner tubes and outer tubes) with distinct functions. Each tube segment can be independently designed and positioned to optimize fuel/air mixing at different locations within the transition piece, allowing for staged combustion that reduces pollutant emissions while managing system complexity through modular segmentation.
2Productivity
If multiple second tubes with varying numbers of injection holes are used, then fuel/air mixing is optimized and combustion efficiency improves, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Different second tubes are designed with different numbers and configurations of injection holes tailored to their specific positions and functional requirements. This local quality approach allows optimization of fuel/air mixing at each location within the transition piece without requiring uniform high-precision manufacturing across all tubes, as each tube's hole pattern is customized to its specific operational context.
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 fuel injector design achieves reduced pollutant emissions by optimizing fuel/air mixing and reuse of combustion products, enhancing power generation and turndown capabilities while minimizing NOx production.
Implementation Method 1
fuel enters the one or more second tubes to mix with the air
Implementation Method 2
fuel enters the one or more second tubes to mix with the air
Implementation Method 3
combustible materials are injected into the transition piece to mix with the main flow of high energy fluid... This leads to increased temperature and energy of the high energy fluids
Data Source
AI summary
A fuel injector is provided and includes a first tube, having first and second opposing ends, which is supplied with fuel, and one or more second tubes disposed within the first tube, each of the one or more second tubes being supplied with air and having sidewalls defining injection holes through which the fuel enters the one or more second tubes to mix with the air, and an outlet end of the sidewalls corresponding to the second end of the first tube.