Air assist for fuel injector

Claim 2

In a mechanism for supplying an air fuel mixture into a combustor of an engine having an air compressor and a fuel injector; an air conduit between the outlet region of the air compressor and the fuel injector; an air pump positioned in said conduit to receive air from said air compressor; a drive for rotating said pump from said engine; a transmission for varying the drive ratio from said engine to said pump; mechanism to vary the drive ratio of said transmission responsive to variation in pressure in the air conduit between the pump air outlet and the fuel injector in amount to reduce variation in pressure of air supplied to said injector over the operable speed raNge of said engine.

Claim 3

An air assist device for improving the air flow into the fuel injector of an gas turbine engine having a fuel injector and an engine driven air compressor normally operating with variation resulting over the engine speed range comprising; a pump positioned to receive air from an outlet region of the engine driven compressor; means to control the speed of rotation of said pump including a toroidal type variable speed drive between a shaft of said engine and the drive shaft of said pump; connections to vary the effective drive ratio of said variable speed drive controlled by the variation in pressure of the air flow adjacent said fuel injector thereby to maintain pressure of air supplied to said injector with a lesser variation over the speed range of said engine than is accomplished by said compressor.

Claim 4

An air assist device for improving the air flow into the fuel injector of an gas turbine engine having a fuel injector and an engine driven air compressor normally operating with variation resulting over the engine speed range comprising; a pump positioned to receive air from an outlet region of the engine driven compressor; means to control the speed of rotation of said pump including a toroidal type variable speed drive between a shaft of said engine and the drive shaft of said pump; connections to vary the effective drive ratio of said variable speed drive controlled by the variation in pressure of the air flow adjacent said fuel injector thereby to maintain pressure of air supplied to said injector with a lesser variation over the speed range of said engine than is accomplished by said compressor.

Claim 5

An air assist device for maintaining a more nearly constant pressure of air supplied to a fuel injector for an engine in which the primary air supply is provided by a compressor operating at the engine shaft speed and subject to speed variations over the speed range of said engine; said device comprising: an air conduit between the outlet of the compressor and the fuel injector; an air assist pump positioned in said conduit; a pump shaft the speed of rotation of which is a function of the air pressure generated by said pump; a transmission mechanism having an input shaft driven at an engine shaft speed and an output shaft connected to rotate the pump shaft; a variable speed toroidal drive connection in said transmission mechanism between said input shaft and said output shaft; said toroidal drive connection having opposed toroidal discs one rotating with said input shaft and the other rotating with said output shaft; steerable drive rollers between said opposing toroidal discs thereby to effect change in drive ratio of said transmission; an actuator responsive to pressure in the conduit connection between the output of the air assist pump and the injector, said actuator constructed to vary the drive ratio of said transmission in response to variation in pressure in said conduit connection; a steering connection between said drive rollers and said actuator connected to change the steer angle of said rollers in direction and amount so that the variation in pressure and volume of air supplied over the speed range of said engine by said pump to said fuel injector will be reduced as compared with variation accomplished by said engine compressor.

Claim 6

An air assist device for maintaining a more nearly constant pressure of air supplied to a fuel injector for an engine in which the primary air supply is provided by a compressor operating at the engine shaft speed and subject to speed variations over the speed range of said engine; said device comprising: an air conduit between the outlet of the compressor and the fuel injector; an air assist pump positioned in said conduit; a pump shaft the speed of rotation of which is a function of the air pressure generated by said pump; a transmission mechanism having an input shaft driven at an engine shaft speed and an output shaft connected to rotate the pump shaft; a variable speed toroidal drive connection in said transmission mechanism between said input shaft and said output shaft; said toroidal drive connection having opposed toroidal discs one rotating with said input shaft and the other rotating with said output shaft; steerable drive rollers between said opposing toroidal discs thereby to effect change in drive ratio of said transmission; an actuator responsive to pressure in the conduit connection between the output of the air assist pump and the injector, said actuator constructed to vary the drive ratio of said transmission in response to variation in pressure in said conduit connection; a steering connection between said drive rollers and said actuator connected to change the steer angle of said rollers in direction and amount so that the variation in pressure and volume of air supplied over the speed range of said engine by said pump to said fuel injector will be reduced as compared with variation accomplished by said engine compressor.