GB2038473A - Fuel injector assembly - Google Patents
Fuel injector assembly Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2038473A GB2038473A GB7850006A GB7850006A GB2038473A GB 2038473 A GB2038473 A GB 2038473A GB 7850006 A GB7850006 A GB 7850006A GB 7850006 A GB7850006 A GB 7850006A GB 2038473 A GB2038473 A GB 2038473A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- support arm
- relative
- injector body
- fuel
- bellows element
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Classifications
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F23—COMBUSTION APPARATUS; COMBUSTION PROCESSES
- F23R—GENERATING COMBUSTION PRODUCTS OF HIGH PRESSURE OR HIGH VELOCITY, e.g. GAS-TURBINE COMBUSTION CHAMBERS
- F23R3/00—Continuous combustion chambers using liquid or gaseous fuel
- F23R3/28—Continuous combustion chambers using liquid or gaseous fuel characterised by the fuel supply
- F23R3/283—Attaching or cooling of fuel injecting means including supports for fuel injectors, stems, or lances
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F23—COMBUSTION APPARATUS; COMBUSTION PROCESSES
- F23C—METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR COMBUSTION USING FLUID FUEL OR SOLID FUEL SUSPENDED IN A CARRIER GAS OR AIR
- F23C5/00—Disposition of burners with respect to the combustion chamber or to one another; Mounting of burners in combustion apparatus
- F23C5/02—Structural details of mounting
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F23—COMBUSTION APPARATUS; COMBUSTION PROCESSES
- F23R—GENERATING COMBUSTION PRODUCTS OF HIGH PRESSURE OR HIGH VELOCITY, e.g. GAS-TURBINE COMBUSTION CHAMBERS
- F23R2900/00—Special features of, or arrangements for continuous combustion chambers; Combustion processes therefor
- F23R2900/00001—Arrangements using bellows, e.g. to adjust volumes or reduce thermal stresses
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
- Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Fuel-Injection Apparatus (AREA)
Abstract
The fuel injector assembly has an injector body 10 provided with fuel outlet orifices 11, the body 10 being adapted to be mounted within the flame tube 38 of a gas turbine engine and carried by a support arm 15 having a longitudinally extending fuel supply tube 31 therein, the arm 15 extending through a mounting and sealing arrangement 18 having a mounting flange 19 adapted to be carried by a supporting casing 36 of the gas turbine engine, the arrangement 18 having a sleeve 20 which extends through an air casing 37 of the engine, and includes a bellows element 29 which is sealingly secured at its upper end to the flange 19 and at its lower end to the support arm 15. Thus, longitudinal movement of the support arm 15 relative to the mounting flange 19 is permitted by expansion and contraction of the bellows element 29 without the need to provide a stuffing gland joint between these two parts. <IMAGE>
Description
SPECIFICATION
Fuel injector assembly
This invention relates to a fuel injector
assembly for injecting fuel into a combustion zone
and is particularly, though not exclusively,
concerned with a fuel injector assembly for
injecting fuel into the combustion zone of a flame
tube, e.g. for a gas turbine engine.
In known types of fuel injector assembly, an
injector body in which one or more fuel injector
orifices are provided is disposed adjacent the
combustion zone of a combustion chamber and is
mounted on a support arm which is itself mounted
on a structural casing which is external to an air
casing through.which combustion air passes to
the combustion chamber. The most conventional
arrangement is to rigidly mount the support arm the the structural casing.Where relative movement at the attachment between support arm and
structural casing has to be accommodated, with
consequent possibility of unwanted leakage, it is
known to provide a stuffing gland joint although
this form of construction is not particularly suited
when angular relative movement has to be
accommodated and furthermore effectiveness of a
stuffing gland joint in service deteriorates under
the influence of operating temperature and
vibratory conditions.
It is an object of the present invention to
provide a fuel injector assembly in which the
above leakage problem is obviated or mitigated.
According to the present invention, there is
provided a fuel injector assembly comprising an
injector body having at least one fuel outlet orifice
therein, a support arm having a longitudinally
extending fuel passage therein and
communicating with said at least one fuel outlet
orifice, a mounting and sealing arrangement for
mounting the support arm on a support structure,
and a fuel inlet communicating with the passage
in the support arm and disposed on the opposite
side of said mounting and sealing arrangement to
the injector body, said mounting and sealing
arrangement including a mounting flange and a
bellows element surrounding said support arm for
a portion of the length thereof and extending
longitudinally thereof, one end of the bellows
element being sealed and fixed relative to the
support arm and the other end of the bellows
element being sealed and fixed relative to the
mounting flange whereby the support arm is
sealed relative to the mounting flange and
longitudinal movement of the support arm relative
to the mounting flange is permitted by expansion
and contraction of the bellows element.
Preferably, the mounting flange is provided
with a sleeve which extends longitudinally of the
support arm in the direction of the injector body
and surrounds the bellows element, and an
intermediate portion of the support arm between
the mounting flange and the injector body and
externally of the bellows element is engaged with
the sleeve so as to be axially slidable relative
thereto.
Preferably also, said intermediate portion of the
support arm is slidable laterally relative to the
sleeve, and a portion of the support arm externally
of the bellows element and at the opposite end
thereof to the injector body is pivotally mounted
relative to the mounting flange to permit such
lateral sliding movement. Such a construction
readily accommodates for dimensional variations,
circumferentially of the combustion chamber, in
the spatial relationship of the support structure
and the flame tube. In this respect, it is to be
appreciated that the injector body is engaged, in
use, with the flame tube.
Conveniently, lateral sliding movement of the support arm relative to the sleeve is enabled by
providing the sleeve with a slot which extends
laterally of the sleeve, the intermediate portion of
the support arm passing through the slot so that
movement of the intermediate portion longitudinally of the slot is permitted.
Preferably, the intermediate portion of the support arm has a non-circular cross-section and is engaged in the slot so that relative rotation between the support arm and the sleeve is prevented.
In one embodiment of the fuel injector assembly, the fuel supply passage in the support arm is a tube which connects said fuel inlet with a passage in the injector body leading to said at least one fuel outlet orifice, a fluid supply passage provided in the support arm externally of the tube provides communication between one or more further outlet orifices in the injector body and a further inlet on the opposite side of the mounting flange to the injector body, the fuel inlet is provided in a member which is slidable longitudinally relative to the support arm, and a further bellows element is sealingly fixed at one end relative to the support arm and sealingly fixed at the other end relative to said member in which the fuel inlet is provided, an end of the tube in the support arm remote from the injector body being engaged with said member, whereby differential longitudinal expansion and contraction between the tube and the wall of the support arm is accommodated for by expansion and contraction of said further bellows element.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is an axial section through one embodiment of fuel injector assembly according to the present invention, and
Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line A-A of Fig.
Preferring now to the drawing, the fuel injector assembly comprises an injector body indicated generally by arrow 10. The injector body 10 is similar to the type described with reference to Fig.
3 in our co-pending British Patent Application No.
15308/78 filed on 18th April 1 978. Since the precise construction of the injector body 1 0 forms no part of the present invention, its construction will not be described herein in detail and reference is drawn to the above-mentioned co-pending
British Patent Application. However, the injector body 1 0 includes a ring of first fuel outlet orifices 11 supplied with liquid fuel via a first passage 12 in the injector body 10 in one mode of operation of the fuel injector assembly. The injector body 10 is also provided with a ring of further outlet orifices 1 3 which are inclined to provide a swirl effect and are supplied with gaseous fuel through a second passage 14 in an alternative mode of operation of the fuel injector assembly.The two modes of operation of the injector are described in detail in the above-mentioned co-pending British
Patent Application. The injector body 10 is mounted on a composite support arm indicated generally by arrow 1 5. The support arm 1 5 extends perpendicularly relative to the injector body 10 and includes a wall 1 6. The fuel injector assembly further comprises a mounting and sealing arrangement indicated generally by arrow 1 8. The mounting and sealing arrangement 1 8 comprises a mounting flange 1 9 having a sleeve 20 of circular cross-section extending from one face thereof towards the injector body 10. The sleeve 20 surrounds an intermediate portion 17 of the support arm 1 5.The sleeve 20 includes a member 21 at its end remote from the flange 19.
The member 21 has a slot 22 therethough which extends laterally of the sleeve 20. The slot 22 is of generally rectangular form with its longitudinal dimension extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the injector body 1 0. The intermediate portion 1 7 of the support arm 1 5 passes through the slot 22 and is axially slidable relative thereto to an extent limited by respective stops 23 and 24 on the arm 1 5 at opposite ends of the intermediate portion 1 7. As can be seen from Fig. 2, the intermediate portion 17 has a generally circular cross-sectional shape but with a pair of opposed flats 25 thereon. The distance between the flats 25 being just less than the width of the slot 22 whereby rotation of the arm 1 5 relative to the sleeve 20 is prevanted.The intermediate portion 1 7 is of a size to be slidable longitudinally of the slot 22 to a limited extent, i.e.
the support arm 1 5 can move laterally and longitudinally relative to the sleeve 20 to a limited extent. The support arm 1 5 is supported on the
mounting flange 19 by means of a universal joint 26 consisting of a part-spherical member 27 secured to the support arm 15, and a cup-shaped
member 28 surrounding the arm 1 5 and welded to the flange 19. The part-spherical member 27 is
engaged in the cup-shaped member 28 for limited
universal pivotal movement relative thereto.Thus, the arm 1 5 is supported on the flange 19 to permit pivotal movement relative thereto but the slot 22 in the sleeve 20 limits the pivotal movement to movement in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the injector body 10,
The mounting and sealing arrangement 1 8 further includes a bellows element 29 which is formed of stainless steel. An end of the bellows element 29 which faces the injector body 10 and which is disposed within the sleeve 20 is secured to support arm 1 5 by a weld which extends completely around the bellows element 29 so that the bellows element 29 is fixed and hermetically sealed at said end with respect to the support arm 1 5. The upper end of the bellows element 29, i.e.
that end remote from the injector body 10, is secured to a portion 1 9a of the mounting flange 1 9 by a weld which extends the whole way around the bellows element 29 whereby the bellows element 29 is hermetically sealed and fixed at said upper end with respect to the mounting flange 19. It will thus be seen from the drawing that the bellows element 29 is disposed within the sleeve 20 and around the wall 1 6 of the support arm 1 5. The bellows element 29 also extends longitudinally of the support arm 15 for part of the length of the support arm 1 5. The intermediate portion 17, the slot 25 and the universal joint 26 are disposed externally of the bellows element 29.A gaseous fuel inlet connector 30 is mounted in the wall 1 6 of the support arm 1 5 on the opposite side of the mounting flange 1 9 to the injector body 1 0. The gaseous fuel inlet connector 30 communicates with the interior of the support arm 15 which, as can be seen from the drawing, is hollow. A liquid fuel supply tube 31 extends longitudinally within the support arm 1 5 and communicates at its lower end with the first passage 12 in the injector body 1 0.The upper end of the fuel supply tube 31 extends into and is sealed with a liquid fuel inlet connector 32 which extends into the wall 1 6 of the support arm 1 5 and is disposed on the opposite side of the mounting flange 1 9 to the injector body 1 0. The liquid fuel inlet connector 32 is of elongate form and extends coaxially into the upper end of the wall 1 6 and is a sliding fit therewith. A key and keyway connection 33 between the wall 1 6 and the connector 32 prevents relative rotation therebetween. A further bellows element 34 of stainless steel is disposed around the inlet connector 32 for a portion of its length and around the upper end portion of the wall 1 6. A lower end of the bellows element 34 is hermetically sealed and fixed around the outer periphery of the wall 16.The upper end of the bellows element 34 is hermetically sealed to that portion of the liquid fuel inlet connector 32 which projects externally of the wall 16. A protective cap 35 encloses the bellows element 34 and is welded at its lower end to the wall 1 6. The cap 35 serves to protect the further bellows element 34 against damage.
In use, liquid fuel is supplied to the injector body 10 via the liquid fuel inlet connector 32 and the tube 31 in said one mode of operation of the fuel injector assembly. In the other mode of operation, liquid fuel is not supplied through the connector 32 hut gaseous fuel is supplied via the gaseous fuel inlet connector 30 and the interior of the support arm 15 around the tube 31. It will be appreciated that the interior of the support arm 1 5 around the tube 31 communicates with the second passage 14 in the injector body 10. The mounting flange 1 9 is sealingly secured by bolts to a supporting casing 36 (only partly shown) forming part of a gas turbine engine to which the
above-described fuel injector assembly is fitted.
The supporting casing 36 is apertured to receive the sleeve 20 which also extends through an air
casing of which part only is shown in dotted line at 37. The injector body 10 projects through an end wall of which only part is shown at 38 of a flame tube of the gas turbine engine.
In service, the dimensional relationship between the mounting flange 1 9 and the injector body 10 located in the head of the flame tube, has considerable variation initially due to the engine arrangement and manufacturing tolerances but also arising from the thermal expansion of the annular flame tube within the surrounding casings.
With the above described construction a variation of as much as 0.3 of an inch in the distance between the injector body 10 and the mounting flange 1 9 can be readily accommodated for by expansion and contraction of the bellows element 29. Any differential expansion and contraction between the wall 16 of the support arm 1 5 and the tube 31 is accommodated for by expansion and contraction of the bellows element 34. The two bellows elements 29 and 34 serve to retain a hermetic seal between the relatively moving parts to which they are connected. It is found that, in service, there can be as much as 0.1 of an inch of sliding movement between the liquid fuel inlet connector 32 and the adjacent portion of the wall 1 6. This is readily accommodated for by expansion
and contraction of the bellows element 34.The useof bellows elements to effect sealing has the advantage over the use of stuffing glands in that effectiveness of the latter deteriorates under the influence of operating temperature and vibratory conditions. Furthermore, the forces to achieve the required movement between the relatively movable parts of a stuffing gland joint may be
unacceptably high.
Additionally, a stuffing gland joint is not particularly suitable when angular relative movement has to be accommodated. Such angular relative movement of the present injector assembly is achieved by the lateral sliding movement of the intermediate portion 1 7 of the arm 1 5 relative to the slot 22 as permitted by the universal joint 26.
The provision of the stops 23 and 24 prevents excessive expansion or contraction of the bellows element 29 when the fuel injector assembly is not mounted in the gas turbine engine so that the risk of damage to the bellows element 29 is minimised.
Claims (7)
1. A fuel injector assembly comprising an injector body having at least one fuel outlet orifice therein, a support arm having a longitudinally extending fuel passage therein and communicating with said at least one fuel outlet orifice, a mounting and sealing arrangement for mounting the support arm on a support structure, and a fuel inlet communicating with the passage in the support arm and disposed on the opposite side of said mounting and sealing arrangement to the injector body, said mounting and sealing arrangement including a mounting flange and a bellows element surrounding said support arm for a portion of the length thereof and extending longitudinally thereof, one end of the bellows element being sealed and fixed relative to the support arm and the other end of the bellows element being sealed and fixed relative to the mounting flange whereby the support arm is sealed relative to the mounting flange and longitudinal movement of the support arm relative to the mounting flange is permitted by expansion and contraction of the bellows element
2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mounting flange is provided with a sleeve which extends longitudinally of the support arm in the direction of the injector body and surrounds the bellows element, and an intermediate portion of the support arm between the mounting flange and the injector body and externally of the bellows element is engaged with the sleeve so as to be axially slidable relative thereto.
3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein said intermediate portion of the support arm is slidable laterally relative to the sleeve, and a portion of the support arm externally of the bellows element and at the opposite end thereof to the injector body is pivotally mounted relative to the mounting flange to permit such lateral sliding movement.
4. An assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein lateral sliding movement of the support arm relative to the sleeve is enabled by providing the sleeve with a slot which extends laterally of the sleeve, the intermediate portion of the support arm passing through the slot so that movement of the intermediate portion longitudinally of the slot is permitted.
5. An assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the intermediate portion of the support arm has a non-circular cross-section and is engaged in the slot so that relative rotation between the support arm and the sleeve is prevented.
6. An assembly as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the fuel supply passage in the support arm is defined by a tube which connects said fuel inlet with a passage in the injector body leading to said at least one fuel outlet orifice, a fluid supply passage provided in the support arm externally of the tube provides communication between one or more further outlet orifices in the injector body and a further inlet on the opposite side of the mounting flange to the injector body, the fuel inlet is provided in a member which is slidable longitudinally relative to the support arm, and a further bellows element is sealingly fixed at one end relative to the support arm and sealingly fixed at the other end relative to said member in which the fuel inlet is provided, an end of the tube in the support arm remote from the injector body being engaged with said member, whereby differential longitudinal expansion and contraction between the tube and the wall of the support arm is accommodated for by expansion and contraction of said further bellows element.
7. A fuel injector assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7850006A GB2038473B (en) | 1978-12-27 | 1978-12-27 | Fuel injector assembly |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7850006A GB2038473B (en) | 1978-12-27 | 1978-12-27 | Fuel injector assembly |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB2038473A true GB2038473A (en) | 1980-07-23 |
| GB2038473B GB2038473B (en) | 1982-12-01 |
Family
ID=10501943
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB7850006A Expired GB2038473B (en) | 1978-12-27 | 1978-12-27 | Fuel injector assembly |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| GB (1) | GB2038473B (en) |
Cited By (7)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0030880B1 (en) * | 1979-12-13 | 1983-08-31 | Societe Nationale D'etude Et De Construction De Moteurs D'aviation, "S.N.E.C.M.A." | Injection device for the combustion chamber of a turbine engine |
| CH666340A5 (en) * | 1985-05-29 | 1988-07-15 | Bbc Brown Boveri & Cie | Gas turbine combustion chamber - has fuel lines to burner nozzles extending through secondary air duct and contained in tubes connected to atmosphere |
| EP0376442A1 (en) * | 1988-12-27 | 1990-07-04 | General Electric Company | Gas turbine igniter with balljoint support |
| WO2001040710A1 (en) * | 1999-11-29 | 2001-06-07 | Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. | Simple low cost fuel nozzle support |
| CN101676535A (en) * | 2008-09-17 | 2010-03-24 | 通用电气公司 | Fuel nozzle tip assembly |
| WO2016024975A1 (en) * | 2014-08-14 | 2016-02-18 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Multi-functional fuel nozzle with a heat shield |
| EP3770504A1 (en) * | 2019-07-26 | 2021-01-27 | Raytheon Technologies Corporation | Slider seal with non-circular puck geometry |
-
1978
- 1978-12-27 GB GB7850006A patent/GB2038473B/en not_active Expired
Cited By (10)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP0030880B1 (en) * | 1979-12-13 | 1983-08-31 | Societe Nationale D'etude Et De Construction De Moteurs D'aviation, "S.N.E.C.M.A." | Injection device for the combustion chamber of a turbine engine |
| CH666340A5 (en) * | 1985-05-29 | 1988-07-15 | Bbc Brown Boveri & Cie | Gas turbine combustion chamber - has fuel lines to burner nozzles extending through secondary air duct and contained in tubes connected to atmosphere |
| EP0376442A1 (en) * | 1988-12-27 | 1990-07-04 | General Electric Company | Gas turbine igniter with balljoint support |
| WO2001040710A1 (en) * | 1999-11-29 | 2001-06-07 | Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. | Simple low cost fuel nozzle support |
| US6256995B1 (en) | 1999-11-29 | 2001-07-10 | Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. | Simple low cost fuel nozzle support |
| CN101676535A (en) * | 2008-09-17 | 2010-03-24 | 通用电气公司 | Fuel nozzle tip assembly |
| CN101676535B (en) * | 2008-09-17 | 2014-10-22 | 通用电气公司 | Fuel nozzle tip assembly |
| WO2016024975A1 (en) * | 2014-08-14 | 2016-02-18 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Multi-functional fuel nozzle with a heat shield |
| US10125991B2 (en) | 2014-08-14 | 2018-11-13 | Siemens Aktiengesellschaft | Multi-functional fuel nozzle with a heat shield |
| EP3770504A1 (en) * | 2019-07-26 | 2021-01-27 | Raytheon Technologies Corporation | Slider seal with non-circular puck geometry |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB2038473B (en) | 1982-12-01 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCNP | Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee |