General Electric Company

Phillip D Napoli

Douglas Marti Fortuna

John Michael Koshoffer

Gary L Leonard

Paul Edward Sabla

Thomas C Campbell

Robert W Harris

William R Patterson

Jack Willard Smith, Jr

Douglas George Shafer

William T Houchens

Thomas A Brisken

Francis P Laska

Richard A Duke

A fuel-air mixer for a gas turbine engine combustor having a primary swirler and a venturi that effectively reduces carboning via purge air. Purge air flows axially through the fuel-air mixer forming a boundary layer of air on the inner surface of the venturi. The boundary layer of air minimizes the amount of fuel contacting the inner surface of the venturi resulting in reduced carbon resin or coke formation.

Anti-carboning fuel-air mixer for a gas turbine engine combustor

A one-piece cowl is provided for use in assembled relationship with a combustor of a gas turbine engine. The cowl is of a generally annular configuration which defines a central cowl axis, and is axially elongated and aerodynamically contoured relative to the central cowl axis. In order to provide a vibratory damping function for the cowl, a solid lip of increased thickness is formed at a leading edge of the cowl.

One-piece combustor cowl

A fuel delivery system for a turbine engine having a primary fuel flow circuit and a secondary fuel flow circuit. The primary fuel flow circuit has a unstaged-first manifold and a staged-second manifold. A control valve and flow meter regulate the amount of fuel flow to the unstaged and staged manifolds with a first mode of operation providing fuel to the unstaged manifold only, and a second mode of operation providing fuel to both the staged and unstaged manifolds. When high power is required of the engine, a secondary fuel circuit is provided with a secondary manifold which is connected to a distribution valve which opens when fuel flow is at a predetermined level. The invention allows fuel to be efficiently atomized at various levels of powered operation by having a control center which controls the opening and closing of the distribution valve and control valve based upon fuel flow rates fuel/air ratios and air start core speed.

Staged fuel delivery system with secondary distribution valve

A gas turbine engine combustor is provided with a combustor liner film cooling means having a slotted nugget or ring for starting a cooling film on and upstream of a multi-hole single wall sheet metal combustor liner which is generally annular in shape and having disposed therethrough a multi-hole film cooling means which includes at least one pattern of small closely spaced film cooling holes sharply angled in the downstream direction. In one embodiment the cooling holes are angled in a circumferential direction which generally coincides with the swirl angle of the flow along the surface of the liner. Another embodiment provides a that the annular liner is corrugated so as to form an axially extending wavy wall to help resist buckling which is particularly useful for outer liners in the combustion section of aircraft gas turbine engines and in the exhaust section of gas turbine engines and afterburners.

Multi-hole film cooled combustor liner with slotted film starter

A fuel delivery system for a dual annular combustor having a pilot stage manifold, a first main stage manifold, and a second main stage manifold which are connected to a three-position staging valve. The staging valve is controlled by a fuel/air digital electronic control (FADEC) which directs the staging valve to a closed (staged) position, to a partially open (partially staged) position, or to an open (unstaged) position in accordance with a staging-valve-fuel-to-air-ratio control schedule.

Fuel delivery method for dual annular combuster

Fuel delivery system for dual annular combustor

A gas turbine engine combustor is provided, having a an annular single wall sheet metal liner which is generally annular in shape and having disposed therethrough a multi-hole film cooling means which includes at least one pattern of small closely spaced film cooling holes angled sharply in the downstream direction and angled in a circumferential direction wherein the circumferential angle generally coincides with the swirl angle of the flow along the surface of the liner. Another embodiment provides a corrugated aircraft engine sheet metal combustor liner which forms an axially extending wavy wall to help resist buckling, particularly useful for outer liners in the combustion section of the engine and in the exhaust section of gas turbine engines incorporating afterburners.

Combustor liner with circumferentially angled film cooling holes

A friction-damped combustor cowl is formed of first and second plies of sheet material of mating, generally annular configuration defining a central cowl axis and of axially elongated and aerodynamically contoured configuration have respective fore end portions which are curled to form a cowl leading edge of arcuate cross section and corresponding fore edges which are integrally joined, and respective aft end portions which define a cowl trailing edge and corresponding aft edges which are integrally joined. Surface contact of the contiguous surfaces of the laminated and mating first and second plies provides vibration damping under normal operating conditions in an alternative and combustor cowl, a spring element is received and maintained under compression within the curled leading edge of the combustor cowl and maintains a resilient biasing force maintaining surface contact between the spring element and the interior surface of the curled leading edge, thereby maintaining frictional surface contact and requisite vibration damping under normal operating conditions.

Damped combustor cowl structure

An exhaust gas temperature sensor is described which includes first, second and third thermocouples connected in parallel to measure the gas temperature at the first, second and third penetration depths in an exhaust passage. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an exhaust temperature sensor mounted in a turbine passage including an inner and outer wall includes a first thermocouple located between approximately 26 percent and 30 percent of the distance from the outer wall to the inner wall. A second thermocouple is located between approximately 58 percent and 62 percent of the distance between the outer and inner passage walls. A third thermocouple is located between approximately 68 percent and 72 percent of the distance between the inner and outer passage walls.

Exhaust gas temperature sensor

An improved seal cooling apparatus is provided for use in a gas turbine engine. In a particular embodiment, this apparatus includes means for deriving conditioning air from air discharged from the compressor diffuser and directing this air onto the seal stator to improve its thermal response. The apparatus also includes means to inject a portion of the conditioning air into a cavity forward of the seal to purge the region and prevent zero airflow conditions during engine operation for the purpose of discouraging overheating of a portion of the compressor rotor. A portion of the conditioning air from the cavity is subsequently directed to flow through and thereby cool the seal.

Seal cooling apparatus

A cavity is defined between the rotating and stationary parts of a gas turbine engine through which cavity air is circulated. Upstream and downstream seals are disposed at opposite ends of the cavity for regulating the circulation of air flowing into and out of the cavity. A cooling air circuit for the engine rotor is provided which channels air from the stationary portion of the engine to the rotor through the cavity therebetween. The rotor air cooling circuit includes an inducer chamber where the cooling air is accelerated and transferred to the engine rotor. The inducer chamber is defined by two additional seals which, in conjunction with the other cavity seals define chambers upstream and downstream of the central inducer chamber. A bypass circuit directs the air circulated within the upstream chamber directly to the downstream chamber (bypassing the inducer chamber) so that the coolant air flowing through the inducer chamber is not contaminated with the air circulated between the engine rotor and stator.

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West Chester, OH, United States of America

Phillip D Napoli