Patent 7266945 was granted and assigned to Rolls-Royce on September, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A fuel injection apparatus (10) for a gas turbine engine (110) comprising a prefilmer (26), the prefilmer (26) comprises a body (50), the body (50) defines an axis (51), an annular surface (40) and a downstream edge (44), the prefilmer (26) arranged so that when working in operative association with the fuel injection apparatus (10) fuel impinges on the surface (40) and flows, by means of a passing airflow, to the downstream edge (44), from where the fuel is shed, characterized in that the fuel injector (10) further comprises a means for circumferentially varying the residence time of the fuel across the surface (40).