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US 12,577,140 B2Granted
Vertical melting furnace for igneous rock fiber manufacturing
AssigneeRock Fiber, Inc.
InventorOleksandr Biland
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a vertical volcanic rock melting furnace having a reduced spatial footprint relative to prior art furnaces. The melting furnace includes a top melting section, which raises the temperature of a charge above the liquidus temperature, a middle cooling section configured to reduce the temperature of the melt, and a bottom conditioning section configured to maintain the melt above a crystallization temperature before the melt is distributed to one or more bushing plates to extrude into fibers. The top melting section and the bottom conditioning sections are surrounding by induction coils for inductively raising the temperature of the melt.
Claims16
A furnace for melting igneous rock material, comprising:
- a central melting body having a melting zone oriented vertically above a cooling zone, which is oriented vertically above a conditioning zone;
- at least one distribution channel extending outwardly from the conditioning zone of the central melting body;
- and
- at least one temperature sensor positioned in a bottom of the central melting body;
- wherein the melting zone of the central melting body is surrounded by at least one melting zone induction coil;
- wherein the at least one melting zone induction coil is operable to melt an igneous rock charge within the melting zone;
- wherein the conditioning zone is surrounded by at least one conditioning zone induction coil;
- wherein the at least one conditioning zone induction coil operates at a greater frequency than the at least one melting zone induction coil;
- wherein the at least one temperature sensor is configured to detect a temperature of melted igneous rock exiting the conditioning zone and entering the at least one distribution channel;
- wherein the cooling zone includes an internal water-cooling jacket;
- and
- wherein a frequency and/or power used to operate the at least one melting zone induction coil and/or at least one conditioning zone induction coil are altered by a controller based on sensor data from the at least one temperature sensor.
9 more elements
A method for manufacturing igneous rock fibers, comprising:
- inserting an igneous rock charge into a melting zone of a furnace, the furnace comprising a central melting body having the melting zone oriented vertically above a cooling zone, which is oriented vertically above a conditioning zone, wherein the melting zone is surrounded by at least one melting zone induction coil;
- the at least one melting zone induction coil, operating at a first frequency, melting the igneous rock charge in the melting zone;
- cooling the melted igneous rock in the cooling zone using an internal water-cooling jacket;
- the melted igneous rock flowing into the conditioning zone of the furnace due to gravitational force, wherein the conditioning zone is surrounded by at least one conditioning zone induction coil;
- the at least one conditioning zone induction coil, operating at a second frequency, maintaining the melted igneous rock at approximately a preset temperature in the conditioning zone;
- the melted igneous rock flowing into at least one distribution channel;
- detecting, via at least one temperature sensor positioned in a bottom of the central melting body, a temperature of the melted igneous rock exiting the conditioning zone and entering the at least one distribution channel;
- altering, by a controller, a frequency and/or power used to operate the at least one melting zone induction coil and/or the at least one conditioning zone induction coil based on sensor data from the at least one temperature sensor;
- and
- a bushing plate, attached to the at least one distribution channel, extruding the melted igneous rock through a plurality of pores to create a plurality of charge fibers;
- wherein the first frequency is less than the second frequency.
8 more elements
A furnace for melting igneous rock material, comprising:
- a central melting body having a melting zone oriented vertically above a cooling zone, which is oriented vertically above a conditioning zone;
- at least one melting zone induction coil surrounding the melting zone of the central melting body, operable to melt an igneous rock charge deposited in the melting zone;
- at least one conditioning zone induction coil surrounding the conditioning zone of the central melting body;
- at least one distribution channel extending outwardly from the conditioning zone of the central melting body;
- at least one bushing plate connected to the at least one distribution channel;
- at least one temperature sensor positioned in a bottom of the central melting body;
- a first temperature sensor positioned within a melt overflow channel of the melting zone, wherein the first temperature sensor is operable to detect a temperature of melted igneous rock in the melting zone;
- and
- a second temperature sensor positioned between the conditioning zone and the at least one distribution channel;
- wherein the cooling zone includes an internal water-cooling jacket;
- and
- wherein the at least one distribution channel is oriented orthogonally to a central axis of the vertically arranged central melting body.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.