Predicting and Preventing Incipient Flameout in Combustors

A method of predicting and preventing incipient flameout in a combustor has been proposed. The method should be applicable to a variety of liquid- and gas-fueled combustors in furnaces and turbine engines. Until now, there have been methods of detecting flameouts after they have occurred, but there has been no way of predicting incipient flameouts and, hence, no way of acting in time to prevent them. Prevention of flameout could not only prevent damage to equipment but, in the case of aircraft turbine engines, could also save lives.