United Technologies Corporation

Thomas J Madden

Aaron S Butler

Robert W Soderquist

Richard Sterling Tuthill

Dennis J Sullivan

Edmund E Striebel

Harold M Craig

Franklin J Davis

Richard R Wright

Thomas E Johnson

Barry C Schlein

Edward C Able

John F Mullooly

Morton K Pearson

Gerald R Rider

Theodore Richard Koblish

W Barry Wagner

Roger Halsted James

Cutlery handle

An improved combustor bulkhead 70 for a gas turbine engine 10 includes a plurality of holes 72 and baffles 90 which directs cooling air radially inward around a fuel injector to set up and shape a toroidal recirculation zone 114 surrounding the fuel injector vortex 116 and suppress smoke and carbon formation in the combustion chamber. Various construction details are described to provide an aerodynamically superior bulkhead design.

Combustor bulkhead with improved cooling and air recirculation zone

A brush seal includes an outer retainer ring and a plurality of layers of wire fibers extending inward at a skewed angle from the outer retainer ring and forming a center opening to accommodate an igniter plug therein. The brush seal is mounted onto a combustor wall to allow movement of the igniter plug relative to the combustor wall without damaging the igniter plug and to prevent leakage of air into the combustor.

Brush igniter seal

A low NO.sub.x fuel nozzle assembly 10 includes a nozzle 24 with a tangential entry (TE) swirler 46 and centerbody element 48 each releasably mounted to an assembly support structure 26, such as to readily provide for operator access to the nozzle's major elements for the purpose of repair or replacement.

Low no.sub.x fuel nozzle assembly

A support structure for a low NO.sub.x industrial gas turbine engine fuel nozzle includes a pressure vessel which forms an interior cavity such that the exterior of the pressure vessel is exposed to the high pressure and temperature of the compressor outlet while the interior cavity of the pressure vessel is exposed to ambient conditions. The fuel lines to the nozzle run through the interior cavity of the pressure vessel, isolated from the high temperatures and pressures at the compressor outlet. The pressure vessel housing and the ambient air within the housing act as natural insulators which prevent the fuel lines from becoming too hot and coking. The support structure also facilitates maintenance of the combustor section of the engine since the low NO.sub.x fuel nozzle and the annular combustor assembly of the engine are easily accessible for maintenance.

Pressure vessel fuel nozzle support for an industrial gas turbine engine

A guide (120) for an ignitor plug (105) of a gas turbine engine (10) includes an extend nonrotational bushing (155) having a base (160) slidably received within a hollow sleeve base (135), fixed to the wall of the engine's combustion chamber (65).

Ignitor plug guide for a gas turbine engine combustor

Truncated pie shaped bulkhead liner sections 60 are each divided into two liner segments 62. The division occurs adjacent fuel nozzle opening 20. Upstream extending lips 71, 75 and 77 abut the bulkhead 14. Cooling air passes through cooling flow openings in the bulkhead with all the flow continuing toward the shell 38, 40 edges of the liner segments.

Segmented bulkhead liner for a gas turbine combustor

A fuel injector 28 for gaseous and liquid fuel is disclosed. Various construction details are developed to enhance mixing and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions in a compact design. In one embodiment of the invention, the fuel nozzle 28 includes two radially spaced passages 68, 104 for air having swirlers 86, 112 and a liquid fuel passage 57 disposed between the air passages and a gaseous fuel passage 116 outwardly of the outermost air passage. In one detailed embodiment, a center body 76 is disposed in the inner air chamber to promote re-ciruclation of the hot gases.

Dual fuel injector

In the mounting of an attachment to a base member, an insert which has a centrally located threaded hole and an outer cylindrical surface which has an interference fit with a cooperating hole in the base member and is adapted to receive a bolt extending through the attachment and into said insert, the insert having a head at the end remote from where the attachment is positioned with a flat surface on the head cooperating with a connector device by which turning of the insert in the base member is provided.

Threaded insert

The liner of a combustor for a gas turbine engine is constructed to include a refilmer at the combustion/dilution air holes so as to form a film of cool air along the inner surface of the liner in the combustion, that would otherwise be destroyed by the combustion/dilution air.

Combustion liner for a gas turbine engine

Apparatus for supplying fuel to the combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine is disclosed. Techniques for increasing combustion efficiency and for decreasing the percentage of noxious emissions in the effluent from the chamber are developed. Axially extending tubes are used extensively in the disclosed embodiments of the invention for premixing gaseous or vaporized fuel with air in the supply means upstream of the combustion chamber. In addition to operation on natural gas and vaporized liquid fuels, the embodiments shown are adaptable to efficiently burn gasified coal fuels having heating values as low as 80 BTU per standard cubic foot (BTU/scf).

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Vernon, CT, United States of America

Thomas J Madden