US 12,241,406 B1
Turbine engine including a steam system
Rakshit Tirumala, Bengaluru (IN); Sushilkumar Shevakari, Bengaluru (IN); Arthur W. Sibbach, Boxford, MA (US); Jeffrey D. Rambo, Mason, OH (US); Bhaskar Nanda Mondal, Bengaluru (IN); and Vaibhav M. Deshmukh, Bengaluru (IN)
Assigned to GENEERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, Evendale, OH (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Dec. 13, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/538,037.
Int. Cl. F02C 3/30 (2006.01); F02C 3/04 (2006.01)
CPC F02C 3/30 (2013.01) [F02C 3/04 (2013.01); F05D 2240/35 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A turbine engine for an aircraft, the turbine engine comprising:
a turbo-engine including:
a core air flow path for core air to flow therethrough;
a combustor positioned in the core air flow path to receive compressed air and fluidly coupled to a fuel source to receive fuel, the fuel being injected into the combustor to mix with the compressed air to generate a fuel and air mixture, the fuel and air mixture being combusted in a primary combustion zone of the combustor to generate combustion gases;
an engine shaft; and
a turbine located downstream of the combustor to receive the combustion gases and to cause the turbine to rotate, the turbine coupled to the engine shaft;
a fan having a fan shaft coupled to the turbo-engine;
a steam system extracting water from the combustion gases and vaporizing the water to generate steam, the steam system being fluidly coupled to the core air flow path at a plurality of steam injection locations to selectively inject the steam into the core air flow path at each of the plurality of steam injection locations to add mass flow to the core air, the plurality of steam injection locations including (i) an upstream steam injection location located to inject steam into the core air flow path at the primary combustion zone of the combustor or upstream thereof, and (ii) a downstream steam injection location located to inject steam into the core air flow path downstream of the primary combustion zone, the steam system including a steam flow control valve operable to change a distribution of the steam being injected into the core air flow path at the plurality of steam injection locations; and
a controller operatively coupled to the steam flow control valve to adjust the position of the steam flow control valve, the controller being configured to position the steam flow control valve to distribute the steam to the plurality of steam injection locations to provide a desired total water-to-air ratio for the core air flowing through the core air flow path and to maintain a water-to-air ratio of primary air flowing into the primary combustion zone below a primary air water-to-air ratio threshold.