Fuel systems for liquid-fuelled aerovalved pulse combustors

The ability of pulse combustors to generate a combustion driven pressure rise has led to their potential application in gas turbines. This results in an increase in the power output of the turbine. Previous work carried out in this field at the University of Calgary employed a gas-fuelled aerovalved pulse combustor. As a majority of gas turbines run on liquid fuel there is a need to develop a liquid-fuelled pulse combustor for a similar application.; In the current work four types of fuel systems were investigated: carburetor, high pressure steady flow fuel injection, low pressure steady flow fuel injection and high pressure fuel interrupter. Gas analysis of the exhaust gases for the four fuel systems was conducted to determine the levels of CO emissions. The results from the present study indicate that the pulse combustor has the ability to handle fuel injection at high pressure. Also it is possible to supply the fuel to the pulse combustor intermittently. Although the pulse combustor ran on all four fuel systems further work is required to optimize a fuel system for liquid-fuelled pulse combustor for gas turbine application.