Method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for determining an amount of energy needed to bring a quartz workpiece to a fusion weldable condition

A system for determining an amount of energy required to bring a quartz workpiece to a fusion weldable condition, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory storage device coupled to the processor for maintaining parameters of the quartz workpiece related to a weldable surface of the quartz workpiece, the memory storage device further maintaining heat source parameters associated with energy to be applied to the weldable surface of a quartz work piece;
• an input device coupled to the processor, the input device being operative to receive the parameters of the quartz workpiece and the heat source parameters;
• and
• the processor being operative to
• identify the parameters of the quartz workpiece,
• identify the heat source parameters, and
• determine the amount of energy required to bring the quartz workpiece to the fusion weldable condition based upon the parameters of the quartz workpiece and the heat source parameters, the fusion weldable condition being a state at which the quartz workpiece is at a thermal balance point substantially near but below a sublimation point of the quartz workpiece and becomes optimally weldable.

A computer-readable medium containing instructions for determining an amount of energy required to bring a quartz workpiece to a fusion weldable condition, which when the instructions are executed, comprise the steps of:

• identifying parameters of the quartz workpiece related to a weldable surface of the quartz workpiece;
• identifying heat source parameters associated with energy to be applied to the weldable surface of the quartz workpiece;
• and
• determining the amount of energy required to bring the quartz workpiece to the fusion weldable condition based upon the parameters of the quartz workpiece and the heat source parameters, the fusion weldable condition being a state at which the quartz workpiece is at a thermal balance point and becomes optimally weldable.