The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 30, 1998
Filed:
Feb. 12, 1996
Ahmad R Shouman, Las Cruces, NM (US);
Other;
Abstract
A gas turbine engine having an air compressor and a combustion chamber connected to the air compressor for burning fuel with air from the air compressor. The combustion chamber also has water and/or steam as input. The water and/or steam is combined with the gases generated by the burning of the fuel to generate a gaseous output that drives first and second turbines. A heat recovery system recovers heat and water from the gaseous output after the gaseous output has passed through the turbines. The water is used as the water source for the combustion chamber and for cooling the turbines. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the heat recovery system utilizes a supercritical heat exchanger. Some of the recovered heat is preferably utilized to drive a third expander. In systems designed to accommodate a variable load, the preferred embodiment of an engine according to the present invention includes a device for regulating the fraction of the gaseous output from the combustion system that passes through the second turbine. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the device is a valve or variable geometry inlet nozzle blades in the second turbine. The valve preferably operates by regulating the back-pressure to which the second turbine is subjected. Alternatively, the variable load may be accommodated by utilizing separate combustion chambers for the two turbines and regulating the rate of fuel consumption in one or both of the combustion chambers. A conventional gas turbine engine may be converted to a turbine according to the present invention by adding a second turbine of the same capacity as the existing turbine and a heat recovery system and by modifying the combustion chamber to accept a water input.