United Technologies Corporation

George A Lanati

Dennis J Sullivan

Vernon A Goodrich

A premixing fuel injector for a turbine engine includes easily replaceable means for monitoring temperature or other conditions of interest in the interior of the injector. The fuel injector includes a guide conduit (70) that penetrates into the injector's interior and has an externally accessible opening (74) for receiving a sensor probe (88). The probe carries at least one sensor, such as a thermocouple junction (106), for monitoring temperature or other conditions inside the injector. In one embodiment, the guide conduit has a nonlinear shape and the probe shank (92) is sufficiently flexible to follow the contour of the conduit and sufficiently rigid to overcome any insertion resistance that the conduit might offer. The flexibility of the shank (92) may vary longitudinally to enhance insertability of the probe into the conduit. The probe is longitudinally oversized relative to the conduit so that when the probe is correctly installed, a sensor element positioned at the probe tip (93) contacts the closed, distal end (84) of the conduit to improve the sensor's responsiveness to changing conditions inside the injector. The probe shank may also buckle slightly and press against the internal sidewall of the conduit to prevent excessive shank vibration.

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Suffield, CT, United States of America

George A Lanati