FUSE FOR FLAME HOLDING ABATEMENT IN PREMIXER OF COMBUSTION CHAMBER OF GAS TURBINE AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

• US 20090293482A1
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Davis, Lewis Berkley JR., Widener, Stanley Kevin, Wilber, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 60/737
• CPC Class Codes: F23D 14/82 Preventing flashback or blowback
• CPC Class Codes: F23D 2900/00015 Pilot burners specially adapted for low load or transient conditions, e.g. for increasing stability
• CPC Class Codes: F23R 3/286 having fuel-air premixing devices F23R3/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F23R 3/343 Pilot flames, i.e. fuel nozzles or injectors using only a very small proportion of the total fuel to insure continuous combustion ignition in gas-turbine plants F02C7/264; pilot flame igniters F23Q9/00

Abstract

A fuel nozzle assembly for a combustor of a gas turbine including: a nozzle body having a front and an inner tube defining a fuel passage extending through the nozzle body, wherein the front proximate to a combustion section of the combustor; an outer casing around the inner tube, wherein an air passage is defined between the outer casing and the inner tube; a gas conduit arranged in the air passage and having an outlet proximate to the front of the nozzle body, wherein fuel starts flowing through the expandable conduit only after a flashback condition occurs in the combustor, and a premix fuel passage and port discharging fuel to a premix section of the combustor, wherein the gas conduit has an inlet open to the premix fuel passage.

Claims

1. A fuel nozzle assembly for a combustor of a gas turbine comprising:

a nozzle body having a front and an inner tube defining a fuel passage extending through the nozzle body, wherein the front is proximate to a combustion section of the combustor;

an outer casing around the inner tube, wherein an air passage is defined between the outer casing and the inner tube;

a gas conduit arranged in the air passage and having an outlet proximate to the front of the nozzle body, wherein fuel starts flowing through the expandable conduit only after a flashback condition occurs in the combustor, and

a premix fuel passage and port discharging fuel to a premix section of the combustor, wherein the gas conduit has an inlet open to the premix fuel passage.

2. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 1 wherein the conduit expands along a length of the air passage.

3. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 1 wherein the conduit has a helical shape.

4. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 1 wherein the expandable conduit is a plurality of expandable conduits and the premix fuel passage is a plurality of passages, and a first of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a first of the premix fuel passages and a second of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a second of the premix fuel passages.

5. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 1 wherein the conduit occupies less than one half of a volume of the air passage.

6. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 1 wherein the outer casing has a weakened region adjacent an outlet of a cylindrical body including the outlet of the conduit, wherein the flashback condition burns through the weakened region.

7. A fuel nozzle assembly for a combustor of a gas turbine comprising:

a nozzle body having a front and an inner tube defining a fuel passage extending through the nozzle body;

an outer tube around the inner tube and defining an air passage between the outer tube and the inner tube;

a weakened region of the outer tube which burns through in event of a flashback thereby causing a portion of premix fuel to bypass the injectors and to be discharged from the weakened region;

an expandable conduit arranged in the air passage and having an outlet adjacent the weakened region, wherein fuel flows through the expandable conduit when the weakened region of the outer tube burns through and the fuel flow is discharged from the conduit, through the weakened region and towards the front of the nozzle body, and

a collar attached to the nozzle body, the collar including a premix fuel passage and port discharging fuel from the collar, wherein the expandable conduit has an inlet open to the premix fuel passage.

8. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein the expandable conduit has a helical shape.

9. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein the expandable conduit is a plurality of expandable conduits and the premix fuel passage is a plurality of passages, and a first of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a first of the premix fuel passages and a second of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a second of the premix fuel passages.

10. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein the expandable conduit occupy less than one half of a volume of the air passage.

11. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein air from the air passage discharges through nozzles in the front of the nozzle body.

12. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein the collar is adapted to be aligned with a premix chamber of a combustion can.

13. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 wherein the combustor includes a combustion can and the fuel nozzle assembly is at least one fuel nozzle assembly arranged in the combustion can.

14. The fuel nozzle assembly as in claim 7 further comprising a fuse and nozzle cylindrical body having an outer surface adjacent an inner surface of the outer tube and an inner end coupled to the expandable conduit.

15. A method for quenching a flashback condition in a combustor of a gas turbine, the method comprising:

injecting fuel and compressed air from a fuel injector assembly to a premix chamber of the combustor, wherein the injected fuel and compressor air does not normally combust in the premix chamber;

combusting the fuel and compressed in a combustion chamber downstream of the premix chamber in the combustor;

providing air to the combustion chamber from a front of the injector assembly through an air passage extending through a nozzle body of the fuel injector;

injecting fuel to the combustion chamber from a fuel passage having an outlet at the front of the injector assembly;

opening an outlet of a conduit in response to a flashback condition adjacent the fuel injector assembly, wherein the outlet is proximate the front of the injector assembly and the conduit extends through the air passage;

diverting fuel from the premix chamber to the conduit by the opening of the outlet, and

quenching flames of the flashback condition by the diversion of fuel.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising expanding an axial length of the conduit in response to thermal conditions.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the conduit has a helical shape and wraps around the fuel passage.

18. The method as in claim 15 wherein air from the air passage discharges through nozzles in the front of the fuel nozzle assembly and forms an air curtain.

19. The method as in claim 15 wherein the outlet is opened by burning through a weakened portion of the nozzle body.

20. The method as in claim 15 wherein the conduit is a plurality of helical conduits extending through the air passage and the premix chamber receives fuel from a plurality of premix fuel passages, and a first of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a first of the premix fuel passages and a second of the expandable conduits has an inlet open to a second of the premix fuel passages.