Combustion equipment

Claim 1

A gas turbine engine combustion chamber comprising: a flame tube having a dome-shaped head portion provided with a central circular aperture from which said head portion immediately diverges downstream, said tube also having secondary air inlet apertures downstream of said head portion; a swirler vane assembly mounted in and extending upstream of said central aperture, said assembly having spaced coaxial inner and outer annular sleeves with a ring of swirl vanes extending therebetween, said sleeves forming a single annular passage for the through flow of air into said tube, said inner sleeve being adapted to have a fuel nozzle fitted therein, and the diameter of the downstream edge of said outer sleeve being generally the same as that of said aperture; and a cylindrical collar of substantially uniform diameter and substantially unobstructed interiorly throughout its length, said diameter being generally the same as that of said aperture, said collar being attached to said head portion and extending coaxially with and from said aperture into said flame tube, whereby in operation carbon accretion on the inner surface of said head portion is reduced substantially, recirculation and mixing of air and fuel is improved in the primary combustion zone upstream of said secondary air inlet apertures and weak flame extinction properties are improved.