Appeal No. 99-0209
Application No. 08/643,048
The problem to which the appellant has directed his
inventive efforts is minimizing the level of oxides of
nitrogen (NOx) in the reaction zone of a gas turbine engine.
Central to the appellant’s solution to the problem is
injecting fuel and air directly into the secondary combustion
zone of the gas turbine by means of a lean direct injection
(LDI) assembly. As described on pages 4, 7 and 8 of the
specification, each LDI spoke is supplied with fuel and air
from separate manifolds, which fuel and air is discharged
together from openings in the spokes directly into the
secondary combustion zone.
Amos also is concerned with reducing NOx. Like the
appellant’s claimed invention, Amos utilizes primary and
secondary combustion systems. In the Amos system, a first set
of gas fuel spray pegs (62) located in air inlets to the
primary combustion zone, in conjunction with swirl vanes (84 &
86), supply an efficiently mixed fuel/air stream to the
primary zone, where it produces combustion having lower NOx.
Pressurized air to the secondary combustion zone is supplied
through a plurality of annular passages (68), and gas fuel is
added to each of these streams through another set of fuel
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