Combustor assembly for low-emissions and alternate liquid fuels

Abstract

Implementations of a combustor assembly yield low emissions, require low power, are suitable for alternate liquid fuels, including highly viscous fuels, and are scalable for various heat release rates. The combustor assembly includes a fuel injector and a swirler. The fuel injector may include a choke portion and a spacer. The choke portion is disposed just upstream of an outlet of a liquid fuel conduit and prevents atomizing gas from interrupting continuous flow of the liquid fuel through the liquid fuel conduit. The spacer is disposed downstream of the outlet to precisely control the gap and thus, bifurcation of atomizing gas flow, between the outlet of liquid fuel conduit and an inlet of an orifice plate. The swirler is disposed radially outwardly and adjacent the fuel injector and includes a plurality of angled vanes.

Claims

1. A fuel injector comprising: an inner injector tube comprising an outlet portion defining an outlet and a choke portion, the choke portion being disposed upstream of the outlet 10 D to 20 D, wherein D is the inner diameter of the inner injector tube; an outer injector tube spaced radially apart from at least the outlet portion of the inner injector tube, the outer injector tube having an outer injector tube outlet disposed radially adjacent the outlet of the inner injector tube; and an orifice plate defining a central opening having an inlet side and an outlet side, the central opening defining a frustoconical cross-sectional shape as taken along a central axis extending through the central opening, wherein an inner diameter of the inlet side is smaller than an inner diameter of the outlet side and the inner diameter of the inlet side is substantially the same as an inner diameter of the outlet of the inner injector tube, wherein the orifice plate directly contacts the outer injector tube, wherein the outer injector tube is co-axial with the inner injector tube, and wherein the central opening of the orifice plate is co-axial with the outlet of the inner injector tube, and the inlet side is spaced apart axially downstream from the outlet of the inner injector tube.

2. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the choke portion is a venturi constriction portion having an inner diameter that is smaller than the inner diameter of the outlet of the inner injector tube.

3. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the choke portion is a check valve.

4. The fuel injector assembly of claim 1, wherein the choke portion is integrally formed in the inner injector tube.

5. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the choke portion is formed separately from the inner injector tube and disposed therein.

6. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the choke portion has an inner diameter of between 0.2 D and 0.4 D.

7. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein: the fuel injector comprises a spacer ring comprising an annular wall, the annular wall defining a central axial opening and having an upper annular surface; the upper annular surface of the spacer ring defines a plurality of axial slots, and the spacer ring is disposed adjacent the outlet of the inner injector tube, the outer injector tube outlet, and the inlet of the orifice plate such that the central opening of the orifice plate and the outlet of the inner injector tube are co-axial with the central axial opening of the spacer ring.

8. The fuel injector of claim 7, wherein the annular wall further defines a plurality of radially extending openings, the radially extending openings being defined circumferentially between the axial slots and spaced apart circumferentially around the annular wall.

9. The fuel injector of claim 7, wherein each axial slot has a height that is at least 0.2 D and a width that is twice the height of the slot, the width being measured in a direction that is tangent to a circumference of the annular wall.

10. A combustor assembly comprising: a fuel injector comprising: an inner injector tube comprising an outlet portion defining an outlet; an outer injector tube spaced radially apart from at least the outlet portion of the inner injector tube, the outer injector tube having an outer injector tube outlet disposed radially adjacent the outlet of the inner injector tube; and an orifice plate defining a central opening having an inlet side and an outlet side, the central opening defining a frustoconical cross-sectional shape as taken along a central axis extending through the central opening, wherein an inner diameter of the inlet side is smaller than an inner diameter of the outlet side and the inner diameter of the inlet side is substantially the same as an inner diameter of the outlet of the inner injector tube, and wherein the central opening of the orifice plate is co-axial with the outlet of the inner injector tube, and the inlet side is spaced apart axially downstream from the outlet of the inner injector tube; and a swirler disposed radially outwardly and adjacent the outer injector tube outlet, the swirler comprising a central hub, a first plurality of vanes extending therefrom at a first angle greater than 0 degrees from a plane extending perpendicular to a central axis of the central hub, and a second plurality of vanes disposed radially outwardly of the first plurality of vanes and at a second angle greater than 0 degrees from the plane, wherein the swirler is in fluid communication with a gas supply plenum adjacent an inlet side of the swirler and a combustion housing adjacent an outlet side of the swirler, wherein the orifice plate directly contacts the outer injector tube, and wherein the outer injector tube is co-axial with the inner injector tube.

11. The combustor assembly of claim 10, wherein the fuel injector comprises a choke portion, the choke portion being disposed upstream of the outlet 10 D to 20 D wherein D is the inner diameter of the inner injector tube.

12. The combustor assembly of claim 11, wherein the choke portion is disposed 10 D upstream of the outlet.

13. The combustor assembly of claim 10, wherein the first and second plurality of swirler vanes are disposed at an angle of 30 degrees relative to the plane.

14. The combustor assembly of claim 10, wherein the fuel injector further comprises a spacer ring, the spacer ring comprising an annular wall, the annular wall defining a central axial opening and having an upper annular surface, wherein: the upper annular surface defines a plurality of axial slots, and the spacer ring is disposed adjacent the outlet of the inner injector tube, the outer injector tube outlet, and the inlet of the orifice plate such that the central opening of the orifice plate and the outlet of the inner injector tube are co-axial with the central axial opening of the spacer ring.

15. The combustor assembly of claim 14, wherein the annular wall further defines a plurality of radially extending openings, the radially extending openings being defined circumferentially between the axial slots and spaced apart circumferentially around the annular wall.

16. The combustor assembly of claim 14, wherein each axial slot has a height that is at least 0.2 D and a width that is twice the height of the slot, the width being measured in a direction that is tangent to a circumference of the annular wall, wherein D is the inner diameter of the inner injector tube.

17. The fuel injector of claim 1, wherein the inlet side is spaced apart by not more than 0.25 D axially downstream from the outlet of the inner injector tube, wherein D is the inner diameter of the inner injector tube.

18. The combustor assembly of claim 13, wherein the inlet side is spaced apart by not more than 0.25 D axially downstream from the outlet of the inner injector tube, wherein D is the inner diameter of the inner injector tube.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other and like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of flow blurring (FB) atomization's working principle.

(3) FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the burner according to various implementations.

(4) FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along the A-A line of a FB injector according to one implementation.

(5) FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view taken along the A-A line of a FB injector of a spacer disposed downstream of the outlet of an inner injector tube, according to one implementation.

(6) FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of the spacer shown in FIG. 4.

(7) FIG. 6 illustrates a perspective view of a spacer according to another implementation.

(8) FIG. 7 illustrates a top view of an inlet swirler used for the burner shown in FIG. 2 according to one implementation.

(9) FIG. 8 illustrates a top view of an inlet swirler used for a larger capacity burner according to one implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(10) According to various implementations, a combustor assembly is described that yields low emissions, requires low pumping power, is suitable for conventional and alternate liquid fuels, including highly viscous processed or unprocessed fuels, and can be scaled to different heat release rates. The combustor assembly according to certain implementations includes a FB injector.

(11) A twin-fluid atomization technique known as Flow Blurring (FB) atomization was recently proposed by A. M. Gan-Calvo. This technique is reported to produce finer droplets with up to fifty times the surface area to volume ratio and atomization efficiency of tenfold when compared to AB atomization. FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of FB atomization's working principle. Atomizing gas is forced through a small gap between an exit of the liquid tube and a coaxial orifice located at distance H downstream of the exit of the liquid tube. For H/D of 0.25 or less (wherein D is the orifice diameter), the atomizing gas flow turns radially as it enters the gap H and a stagnation point develops somewhere between the exit of liquid tube and the orifice. Thus, the atomizing gas flow is bifurcated about the stagnation point, with part of the gas being directed upstream into the liquid tube and the rest flowing out through the orifice. The back flow gas that enters the liquid tube results in turbulent two-phase mixing with the incoming liquid, which is characterized by turbulent inertial cascade mechanics. By introducing the atomizing gas downstream of the liquid tube exit, the atomization process requires less energy.

(12) The injector, according to various implementations, uses the FB atomization technique shown in FIG. 1 and further includes a choke, or reduced diameter, portion in an inner injector tube, or liquid fuel conduit. The choke is disposed just upstream of the outlet of the inner injector tube. For example, the choke portion may be disposed within a distance of 10 D to 20 D of the outlet. The choke portion may include a valve or a venturi constriction portion having an inner diameter that is less than the inner diameter of the outlet of the inner injector tube. A high pressure area is formed downstream of the choke portion, which prevents the atomizing air from flowing past the choke portion and preventing the liquid fuel from flowing continuously through the inner injector tube, in particular during changes in the fuel or air flow rates.

(13) In some implementations, the space between the outlet of the inner injector tube and the orifice plate is precisely controlled by a spacer.

(14) In addition, in some implementations, the combustor assembly also includes a swirler disposed radially adjacent an exit plane of the FB injector. The swirler may be a single, double, or multi-vane swirler. The swirler may include a plurality of angled vanes that cause gas, such as air, a combustible gas or a mixture of gases, to swirl upon exiting the swirler. The swirled gas assists with breaking up any remaining fuel streaks that exit the orifice plate, and assist in pre-vaporizing the fuel, which results in low emissions. Smaller applications may include a single vane swirler and larger applications may include a double swirler, according to some implementations.

(15) Furthermore, according to various implementations, the combustor assembly may be used in small or large heat release rate environments. The combustor assembly is a dual fuel burner and as such it may use gaseous fuels and liquid fuels separately or both gaseous and liquid fuels at the same time. In addition, the dual fuel combustor assembly may have a smaller capacity, such as between 5 kWth and 10 kWth capacity (e.g., 7 kWth capacity) or a larger capacity, such as between 60 kWth and a 100 kWth capacity.

(16) FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary environment in which the combustor assembly according to various implementations may be used. The combustor assembly includes an improved FB fuel injector 20 and a swirler 25. The combustion environment shown in FIG. 2 is a burner assembly 10. FB fuel injector 20 is disposed along a central axis A-A of the burner assembly 10. The swirler 25 is disposed circumferentially around and adjacent to the FB fuel injector 20. The burner assembly 10 also includes a combustion chamber 30 having an inlet side that is coplanar with a dump plane 32 and an outlet side 34. An exit of the FB fuel injector 20 and the swirler 25 are also co-planar with the dump plane 32. However in other implementations, the exit of the FB fuel injector 20 and/or the swirler 25 may not be co-planar with the dump plane 32.

(17) FIG. 3 illustrates a cross section of the FB fuel injector 20 taken along the A-A axis. The FB injector 20 includes an inner injector tube 201, an outer injector tube 202, and an orifice plate 203. The inner injector tube 201 defines an outlet 205 and includes a choke portion 206 that is disposed axially below the outlet 205 between 10 D to 20 D. For example, the choke portion 206 may be disposed axially below the outlet 205 1 cm for D=1 mm. In addition, an outer diameter of a portion 209 of the inner injector tube 201 adjacent the outlet 205 may taper radially inwardly and axially toward the outlet 205.

(18) The orifice plate 203 defines a central opening having an inlet side 211 and an outlet side 213 along the axis A-A. The central opening includes a portion 215 defining a frustoconical-shaped opening and a portion 216 defining a cylindrical-shaped opening. The frustoconical portion 215 extends between an outlet side 213 of the plate 203 and the cylindrical portion 216 such that an inner diameter of the frustoconical portion 215 decreases along the axis A-A from the outlet side 213 to the cylindrical portion 216, and the cylindrical portion 216 extends between an inlet side 211 of the plate 203 to the frustoconical portion 215. An inner diameter of cylindrical portion 216 is smaller than the inner diameter at the outlet side 213 of the central opening and is substantially the same as the inner diameter D of the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201. The inlet side 211 of the orifice plate 203 is spaced axially above the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201 by a distance H, which is a quarter of the diameter D of the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201. The outlet side 213 of the central opening is within the dump plane 32 of the assembly 10.

(19) The outer injector tube 202 is spaced apart radially outwardly from the inner injector tube 201 and defines a space 202a between an inner wall of the outer injector tube 202 and the outer wall of the inner injector tube 201 through which pressurized gas flows. The outer injector tube 202 includes an outlet portion 207 adjacent the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201. In particular, the outlet portion 207 is defined by the usually tapered portion 209 of the inner injector tube 201 and a portion of the orifice plate 203 that is adjacent the inlet side 211 of the central opening.

(20) Pressurized liquid fuel flows through a liquid fuel inlet into the inner injector tube 201. In addition, pressurized gas flows through an atomizing gas inlet into the space 202a. This pressurized gas is forced through the outlet 207 and between the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201 and the inlet side 211 of the central opening of the orifice plate 203. The pressurized gas turns radially as it enters this space, and a stagnation point develops somewhere between the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201 and the inlet side 211 of the orifice plate 203. Thus, the pressurized, or atomizing, gas flow is bifurcated about the stagnation point, with part of the gas being directed upstream into the inner injector tube 201 and the rest flowing out through the orifice plate 203. The back flow gas that enters the inner injector tube 201 results in bubbling and turbulent two-phase mixing with the incoming liquid fuel. Exemplary pressurized gases may include air, steam, gaseous fuels such as natural gas or propane, nitrogen, and oxygen.

(21) A spacer ring with a plurality of slots and/or holes is used to precisely control the geometry, and thus, bifurcation of the atomizing gas, between the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201 and the inlet 211 of the orifice plate. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a spacer ring 40 may be disposed between the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201 and the inlet 211 of the orifice 203. FIG. 5 illustrates spacer ring 40 according to one implementation. The spacer ring 40 comprises an annular side wall 41 having an upper surface 42 and a lower surface 43. An inner diameter ID.sub.SR of the side wall 41 is substantially equal to the diameter D of the inner injector tube 201. The spacer ring 40 is disposed between the outlet 205 and the inlet 211 such that the central axis A-A of the inner injector tube 201 and a central axis B-B of the spacer ring 40 are co-axial.

(22) The upper surface 42 defines a plurality of slots 44, or axial depressions, that extend axially inwardly from the upper surface 42 and are spaced apart from each other. For example, the implementation shown in FIG. 5 includes four equally spaced slots 44 that are spaced apart from each other around a circumference of the upper surface 42. The axial height H.sub.SLOT of each slot 44 is at least one-fifth the inner diameter ID.sub.SR of the spacer 40, and the width W.sub.SLOT of each slot 44 is twice the height H.sub.SLOT of the slot 44. For example, in the implementation shown in FIG. 5, the inner diameter ID.sub.SR of the ring 40 is 5 mm, the height H.sub.SLOT of each slot 44 is 1 mm, and the width W.sub.SLOT of each slot 44 is 2 mm. Furthermore, the height H.sub.SR of the spacer ring 40 as measured between the lower surface 43 and the upper surface 42 is about the same as the inner diameter ID.sub.SR of the ring 40. The outer diameter OD.sub.SR of the ring 40 in this implementation is 8 mm.

(23) FIG. 6 illustrates another implementation of a spacer ring. In particular, spacer ring 50 is similar to spacer ring 40 but further defines a plurality of holes 55 that extend radially between an outer radial surface 51a of the annular wall and an inner radial surface 51b of the annular wall of the spacer ring 50. The holes 55 are defined between the slots 54 as shown in FIG. 6. The holes 55 may have a diameter of 0.05 D to 0.2 D and are spaced equal distance apart along the outer radial surface 51a.

(24) The choke portion 206 creates an area of high pressure just downstream of the choke portion 206 to prevent the pressurized gas from flowing past it and potentially hindering or slowing the flow of the liquid fuel through the inner injection tube 201. In certain implementations, the choke portion 206 may include a venturi constriction portion having a reduced diameter as compared to the inner diameter of the inner injector tube 201 or a valve. In addition, the choke portion 206 may be integrally formed with the inner injector tube 201, such as by pinching the tube 201 radially inwardly at the location for the choke portion 206 or molding or otherwise forming the choke portion 206 within the inner injector tube 201. Alternatively, the choke portion 206 may be formed separately and inserted into the inner injector tube 201. In one implementation where choke point is located 10 D to 20 D upstream of the outlet 205 of the inner injector tube 201, the diameter at the choked point can be 0.2 D to 0.4 D, the upstream converging length can be 2 D, and the downstream diverging length can be 4 D, where D is the diameter of the inner injector tube 201.

(25) The swirler 25 is disposed circumferentially around and adjacent to the FB fuel injector 20 and swirls a primary gas and/or a gaseous fuel mixture into the combustion housing 30. In particular, as shown in FIG. 7, the swirler 25 is a static structure that includes a central hub 27 having a central axis that is coaxial with axis A-A. A plurality of vanes 26a-26f extend from the hub 27 at an angle greater than 0 to a plane that is perpendicular to the central axis A-A. The vanes 26a-26f define spaces between each other through which the primary gas and/or gaseous fuel mixture flows. The angle of each vane 26a-26f may be between 5 degrees and 45 degrees from the perpendicular plane. As shown in FIG. 7, the angle is 30 degrees. A ratio of an outer diameter F of the swirler 25 to a hub diameter B of the swirler 25 is between 0.4 and 0.6, which provides an optimal swirl number.

(26) A primary gas-gaseous fuel mixture flows through an inlet side of the swirler 25 and out of an outlet side of the swirler 25 into the combustion housing 30. The primary gas and/or gas mixture exiting the swirler 25 assists with breaking up any non-atomized streaks of liquid fuel that may exit the outlet side 213. Substantially atomized fuel exiting the outlet side 213 of the orifice plate 203 vaporizes and mixes with the primary gas and/or gaseous fuel mixture, and then combusts within the housing 30. A portion of heat from the combustion also reaches upstream to preheat the primary gas and/or gas mixture products, which helps to quickly pre-vaporize the liquid fuel, allowing it to burn cleanly and resulting in low emissions.

(27) For larger scale industrial applications, such as for burners having a capacity of over 60 kWth, the swirler of the combustor assembly may include an enlarged, or double swirler, such as is shown in FIG. 8. In particular, FIG. 8 illustrates a double swirler 35 according to one implementation. The double swirler 35 includes an inner swirler 36 and an external swirler 38 that extends circumferentially around the inner swirler 36. The vane angles for the inner 36 and outer swirler 38 are 30 degrees and a ratio of an outer diameter F to a hub diameter B is between 0.4 to 0.6. Thus, the swirl number remains at its optimum value. Hence, the double vane swirler 35 shown in FIG. 8 has the same swirl angle as swirler 25 but includes a double swirl design because the outer diameter F to hub diameter B ratio for a single swirl is too large when the diameter dimensions are increased for use with larger scale combustion applications. The dimensions of the inner swirler 36 are the same as the swirler 25 for the small scale system 10, and the outer diameter B of the external swirler 38 is determined by the hub to diameter ratio. The external swirler 38 includes 8 vanes, and the internal swirler 36 includes 6 vanes, according to the implementation shown in FIG. 8.

(28) Furthermore, dual fuels (combined liquid fuel-gaseous fuel operation) may be selected to yield fuel flexibility and/or more power. This increase in capacity is achieved because the gaseous fuel supply system is independent of the liquid fuel injector design.

(29) When scaling the fuel injector assembly for small or large combustion applications, the scaling may be based on constant velocity scaling criterion. This criterion ensures that the residence time inside the combustion chamber is independent of the HRR. Thus, to keep the flow velocities within an acceptable or optimal range (e.g., flow velocities are within 50% of each other for various capacities), several cross sectional areas may be increased by a certain factor. For example, when increasing the capacity of a combustion system from 7 kW capacity to 60 kW capacity, several cross sectional areas may be increased by an average factor of around 9. For example, most circular diameters may be increased by a factor of around 3. For areas in which there may be a limit on maximum allowable dimension, care is taken to ensure that the flow velocity does not exceed the acceptable range, and proportionate dimension may be added to counter the effects of increases in velocity. These modifications may be implemented on the fuel injector, swirler, dump plane, combustion enclosure, and the upstream mixing tube. The length of the burner housing 30 is nearly the same for different scale combustion systems.

(30) The combustor assembly may be used for combusting diesel, straight vegetable oil, and glycerol fuels, for example. However, other fuels may be used with this combustor assembly, such as bunker oil, minimally processed crude oil, fuels produced from algae, liquid chemical waste, conventional fuels, high viscosity fuels, alternative fuels, biofuels, and opportunity and waste fuels. In addition, this combustor assembly may use alternative gases such as steam, natural gas, and propane for the atomizing gas and/or various gaseous fuels for the primary gas flow through the swirlers.

(31) The combustor assembly according to various implementations of the invention produces smaller droplets of fuel as compared to the AB technique and has the capability of burning fuels of very high viscosity, including straight vegetable oil (VO) and glycerol with low emissions. Since the injector tube outlet diameter and orifice exit diameter are large, the injector is not subjected to clogging by fuel contaminants or by fuel oxidation caused by heating of the fuel.

(32) Fuel flexible, clean combustion has distinct importance for solving some of the environmental and economic concerns associated with alternative, waste, and minimally processed liquid fuels. For example, crude glycerol is generated as a byproduct of biodiesel production. Crude glycerol is considered as waste because, despite its significant energy content of 16 MJ/kg, it is very difficult to atomize and burn with traditional injectors. Thus, in its crude form, it has been of limited use. However, a combustor assembly according to various implementations, such as those described above, may allow the crude glycerol to be combusted for heat generation.

(33) Thus, various implementations of the above described combustor assembly address several concerns that arise when applying air with the FB atomization technique to produce liquid fuel spray in combustion systems. In particular, the choke prevents back flow air entering the fuel tube from flowing too far down the fuel tube and blocking the fuel from flowing through the fuel tube, especially during the transients. In addition, the swirler prevents streaks of fuel in the combustion zone, which may be of particular concern when the fuel is highly viscous. These streaks of fuel do not burn as cleanly as droplets. Furthermore, the above described systems may be scalable for small scale to large scale industrial applications. Finally, the above described implementations of the spacer ring decrease the atomizing gasflow rate through the injector, which reduces the power consumption.

(34) The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The implementation was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various implementations with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.