Acutronic Turbines Inc.

Munetake Nishihara

Drew Weibel

David Monk

Ford McClure

Felipe Gomez Del Campo

Ilya Gulko

Patrick Bailey

Mark Harris

An ignition and combustion assist system and method comprising a plasma igniter and electronic driver unit for use with gas turbine engines operating under low air densities, reduced voltage conditions and overall pressure ratios of 3:1 to 7:1. The plasma igniter has an inner chamber housing a centrally positioned and electrically isolated electrode attached to an electrical lead, driver unit, and AC or DC power supply. The electrode features a corner positioned near an outlet end of the igniter, where a plasma arc ignites a fuel-air mixture creating a flame extending into a primary burn region of a combustor of the gas turbine. The driver unit is in two embodiments and configured with low-cost microsecond voltage wave time periods or energy-efficient nano-second pulses. The method uses the plasma igniter and the electronic driver units described herein separately with other components or together.

Plasma ignition and combustion assist system for gas turbine engines

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Munetake Nishihara