Mechanical Engineers Reprinted From IGTI—-Vol. 7, ASME Cogen—Turbo Book No. 100933 ~ 1992 LOW NO, COMBUSTOR DESIGN AND TEST WITH A RECUPERATED GAS TURBINE ENGINE James Kessoli Northern Research & Engineering Corp. Woburn, Massachusetts Abstract The recuperated gat tbe engine has long been ‘mired fer ts Ver) igh oficency potential. However’ despite the high effeiensy, the high cott of te secupersion generally outweighs the demand of uel cost savings, This paper develops & Second technical and economic argument for the recuperated ‘engine, asec. on tne low levele of pollutant emissions that have Been echieved wth a prototype engine. Costs of modern ‘exhaust reatment devices, and the imtaticns of water injection can be avoided in 2 recureratec engine, fited wth a properly desigred combustion systan Tho combictorfer a 33 KWle recuperated gas turbine was ‘experimentally anc analytically investigated. An ootinazed fervelepe of equivaience atic end degree Of fuel and alr mixing was determined where the NOx emissions were found to be low enough to meet the Calera South Coastal Air Qualey Management Distict (SCAQND) guidelines of § ppmv at 15% excess angen. Simultaneous compliance witn CO emission Tegulaiions was found tobe possible by contaling the residence time ane the degrea of primary quenching Water injestion for NOx wae not considered ac an ostion for the program because of the testretons that this imposes onthe appication and i Likewise selective catalytic reduction ard ohier exhaust ireatments were not corsiered in ths progean, AFF mas fow air/ mass ow fut Mret Reference mass fow rate FefVol Reference volume Pemy parts per milion by volume ° ‘Stociometrc equivaience rato a Combustor leading parameter (equation 3) A ficiency (based upon tel lower hesting value) Introduction Acombustor for a highly recuperated gas turbine engine has some inherent advantage: over the combustors for simple cycle gas tursines whieh domsnato the field. The ungue facture of ‘hie combuctor io the extremely lean fuel equvelence ratio conditions at which it operates, Leen primary zone conditions: fesut in relatvely low. burning temperatures, and consequently low production of the exes cf nitrogen’ (NOX. Stable operation at sucn low equivalence ratios is a favorable Characteristic ofthis highly recupereted gas turbine engine and the cogeneration application. The principal features of the engine that permit the operation at uta lean conditions ae: 1. Vory high combustor inlet tomporalures provided by the recuperator, 2, Felatively low temperature rise through the ‘combustor, thus alow conbusterbading, 3. Low eycle pressure ratio, 44 The lack cf size constrains, Arecuperator effectiveness of 90% or higher results in combustor prohest temperaturet atovo 650°C (12000F) Experiments performed in th study and elsewhere indicate that adequate combuston siablily Maigins are atainable at Drechamber equhalence ratios 2s low as 0.30 when inlet _ar femperatures reach ths level. Fuel/ir mbing vaiations tested were found to be extremely influential in controling NOx and combustion stabity margin. rather feature of the recuperated cycle that indiectly influences NOx emacione ie the high engine eficercioe that aro atainable with relatwely modest turbine inlet temperatures and E. Roy Norster Norster Combustion Incorporated Newark, Nottingham, England Michael Landau Southern California Gas Company Los Angeles, California Pressures To achieve a comparable engine effciency, say 22%, a simple cyclo gas turbine engine would require a turing inlet tempereture over 11506 (21009R), and a pressure ratio ‘over 15. At these conditions a higher prechaniter leading ( se2 equaion 9 is necessicary to achieve the requited lean ‘equivalence ratios. The consequence is a lower availabilty of Giution and downstream ming flow, making the task of achieving low NOx by this method muck mere challenging. High combustion prestuos wil lypically recut in eleveted NOx levele. "The increase has boon shawn to be a ‘approximated by the factor of pressure ratio to the 04 {2 05 ‘exponent. “The major goels and results of the combustor development are sunmarzed in Table 1 ——— DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS AND SUNMERY OF RESULTS RAMETE! aaa oe Feet tr ae ar Ropers” on Sa tenes oo sseoe esr? ae sue forecast 8 SOS rayey | eeoreEemeathee $3 Sts B Figure 1: Combustor and Engine Test Fig9 2 a , CCONBUSTOR CAN ASSENEL / ! es ee + a Figure 3 Combustor Liner 280 ‘A view of the 29 kWe recupercted ges turbine encine used inthese tests is stown in Figure 1. Figure 2 illustrates tne lavo f the reverse_flow cansype combustor designed and tested this program The combucior employe an eight slot. radia inf vortex generator (enirer) carying premixed fuel and ir into the Combustion prechamber, The reacting gases expand inte the lerger diameter flame lier just short of the primary alt injection jets. Fuither down steam @ second set of clroumferertia jos Diovide the final diution. Tae dimensions of ne swiler and ner holes were vatied over the course ofthe test procram Photograhs of fhe ‘ested combustor are presented in Figures 3 and 4. Figure 3 shows the fabricated combustor line. ‘The ewer slots (Figure 4) are mactined into the combustor flanged head. These eightslotsaretengentto the inner dameter of the prechambor. A cot of intercrangosbie chime were used t0 adjust the slot widih. ‘This pemnitied the testing of two. different ‘wife: flow capaciies This hardware was designed to Provide a sizable degree ct flexblity for testing. Many Improvements are now being considered to simply the design and lower febncation cost. ‘Acrodynami ‘The eliciency ofa recunersted engine is vary sensitive ta the cycle preeeure looses. For thie reason” an amitious goal of 2% total prosoure lose was selected This value was achieved at the design tempereture and mass flow concitions. It should be Noted that the tow inlet alt_velonives (-25 mis), charecterste of flow exiting ftom a recupereter duct, permit low afTusion pressure losses relatne to those of pical simpe cycle cas turbine engines. ‘Therelore the percentage o' pressure. diop tha is allocated for @ recupereted engine combustor is utlized predominantly for the beneficial effects of combustcn gas mising. Ths mxng is created in tee separated regions in the tect combuctor. Relating to Figure 5 those are designated as: 1. Piechamber: = swing zone where igition is intlated 2 Primary Zone: where the fs. stege of dlulon, or quenching ozcurs 3, Secondary Zone: en intermediate dilution stage, end 4 Diution Zone: waere the combustion core is luted down ‘othe desited turbine init temperature. rigorous flow resistance model of the tect combustor wae developed to aerodynaniealy and thetmocynamically anaiyele the design esses The modeling accuracy was enhanced by test results cblained on subscale model combusior ‘The postion and ‘ze of he liner holes, anc saler channels was vated 1 elo the ested results: 1, 20t0 3.5 % total pressure drop, test range. 2, Prechambe equivalence ratios of 0.3 100.5, test ange 3. Primary Zone quercring to a temperatute below the NOx production threshold, but above that for extinction dation of CO, 4, Secondavy and Dittion ete reducing epimun mixing ‘Since interstage combustion temperatures were rot measured in these experiments, we dé not explicitly define the ‘huesholc temperatures for NOx and CO generation. Therefore with ur ited experments we do nct expect that we generated the ‘optimum conditons piodusing the minimum emissions. ‘The degice af fuel and alr ming has been shown to have a signiicart eect on the NOX embsone and the etebilty of Combustion, Four diferent schemeshave been employed in the Combustor test program, These ae ilustrated In Figure 6. The Possible occurence of flashback 's generally an issue to be aadressed in nighy Premed, ign temperature and. pressure environments, This was not found te be a problem in this. cesign. Armor case assessment of the flame Speed indicates that the velocty in the swiler is at least 20 times the flame Propagation rata, ‘Also of impottance ic the igrition delay for the premixea_ fuel, The igntion delay tine for methane at 8 atmospheres ardLow NOx Combustor Analytical Mode! Z\ prechausen J ‘940K (17009R) was calculated to be 150. miliseconds, wile the residence time from the point of intection to the reaction zone In the precharber & between 2 and 12 miliseconds Trough eacs of the four. injecton schemes involve itferent techniques, attempts nave boon made to characterize ter degree of mixhg though a simple non-dimentonal faixing tength pavameter (UD)._n this definition the length (2) fe the distance from ine pont of fuel injecion while the equivalent ameter (0) isthe swirer sit hycraulis diameter. Te eater work of Heywood etal [1879] documents the influence of this parameter fn the production of NOx and combustion stabi “The greatest dacree of fuel ai premizing was cbtained from thetorodel fuel datibuter manfold, porforated with 48, 0.032 Inch (Q.61mm), holes projecting the fuel redally ouwarde Figure . The hole size and orienlallon wes selecied to discourage the fuel om propagating upstream Into te low velosily region ‘utsice the swifler. The higher velosiy Tow between the outer anand. the preshamber liner cooling bleed was intended to insure that fuel would not ditedty enter the ormary section Figure 6 Four Fuel Injection Schames; Injecsor 1 (8 places) Injector 2 (8 pieces) Injector 3 (4 places) Injector 4 (8 places) o ) Fuetinectr 3 Fut inpector | tome) | 281 through either the liner cooling or primary jess, Despite these design intentions, preventicn of the fuel pilor to. entering the Swirer slofs appeared to occur insome cases. The cause of tis is believed to be a result of airflow maldstbution caused by the Side entance dust." Raising the combustor pransire drop seemed to rectify the problem, but thie requitement limted the injection schemes usefulness in these experiments, Presicteble resuits were cbtaines win the configuration referred to as the partmixed injection scheme shown in Figure 6. Fuel enters the annular cisibution plenum mile into the swirer Dacicplete anc is inetted ito the swirler steam through a wall Cffce lecated in each of the eight channels The injection port ‘wae designed cush that the foal enters the iretream wth very ow momentum. ‘This resufted in 2 re.atvely large fuel office, Sufficient ts preclude te plugging with dit or eoale in the tine. At design conditions (prechamber equivalence ratio of 03, 2% Dressure crop, AFR= 210), the Tus! jet Is completely dissipated in the chanrel manstream in orly diameters. This represents only ‘20% of the channel depth. In actual experiments, the fuel flow ‘was highe' than anticipated (ow recuperator effectiveness) and the jet penetiation depth was rominaly 50% of the channel depth. The channel Reyrokis number wes 25,000 Given these factors, the _nondimensional mixing length for this configuration ie estimated i> be approximately 15. Previous ‘experiment with swifer charne! wall injection of this type have Indicated tat mixing charactesics ale dependent upcn fuel flow ‘aes, and the oe pressure drop. "At low fuel flaws poor mixing In te suiner channel permis Stabe burnirg in the prechamber under condtions nomaly defined as unstable. At increased fuslflow the higher deoree of fuelair mixing results in substantal NOx reduction ‘A third fu0l injection scheme was implemented between experimen’s. This design uiized instuneniaton pots orginally Inended to obtain access © the swirler channels. In allemnate Swirer chenne's (4 places) a.0.125 Inch (3.2 mn) stainless tube was inserted a shor disancs into the air cream. The fuel injection tube, shown on Figure 6, was ositoned to achieve an tive nondimensional mizing length of 6.0. In this case the definition for rising length (UD) stated above was rcdiied. In ths scheme the fuel injector tubes were located in only four of the ‘ight cwirler clots tha! feod the prechambor. Thorafore, though tie not an exact representation, the equvalent LD was assumed to be one halfef the geonetic value. To sure that the fusl did rot propagate upsirea, the fuel injection holes were drected ‘oweres the side wals of the open swirler channel, perpendicular to the aus of the combustor. Two closely spaved through holes, 0.062 inch (1.87 mm) daneter, producing 4 orfices, were dilled ineach ofthe four inecton ‘tubes. The fuel jet penetration depih was selected to be 35 diameters 65.5 mm) “The fouth and most euecessful fuel ming wae eccompished wih the scieme ilvetated in Figur 6.” Fuel was Injected ino il eight swiver sos ine manner sinilar to the Injector 3 design, The elcnt uel tubes were Installed through the Swirer flange, 2 the ine: ct the swirier channes. Two heles in ther side of the injecton tube projected the fuel gas outward from the chanel, towards the side walls (dertical 0 Ineter 3) ‘The fuel injactors ware postioned so as to achieve 2 Ficn degree cf promixing with LD=11 “Tne sablity margin of the combustor wes an important gesgn crifsra and was evaluated experimertally and analyticaly ‘Siabiity margin is defined as: SN= [ff ¢bol/¢ho Equation t ‘wnere_4bo, = the blaw-oit equivalence rat. ‘Test data obtained ty Rahaicishran and Heywood et.al 1979) shows the Blow-out Imits for methane uncer cortrolled