Method and apparatus for minimizing inclusions in a glass making process

A method for forming a glass sheet comprising:

• flowing molten glass over a forming body comprising converging forming surfaces that converge at a bottom of the forming body, the forming body positioned within an enclosure;
• forming a temperature gradient between a temperature T1 at a top of the forming body and a temperature T2 at the bottom of the forming body by heating the forming body with a plurality of heating elements separated from the forming body by an inner wall of the enclosure, an insulating thermal barrier positioned between a bottom-most heating element of the plurality of heating elements and a vertically adjacent heating element of the plurality of heating elements;
• drawing the molten glass from the bottom of the forming body to form a glass sheet;
• and
• wherein the temperature T2 at the bottom of the forming body is decoupled by the insulating thermal barrier from the temperature T1 at the top of the forming body such that a 1° C./hour change in T2 results in less than a 0.5° C./hour change in T1.

A method for forming a glass sheet comprising:

• flowing molten glass over a forming body comprising converging forming surfaces that converge at a bottom of the forming body, the forming body positioned within an enclosure;
• heating the forming body with a plurality of heating elements separated from the forming body by an inner wall of the enclosure to obtain a temperature T1 at a top of the forming body and a temperature T2 at the bottom of the forming body, an insulating thermal barrier horizontally positioned between two adjacent vertically spaced heating elements of the plurality of heating elements;
• drawing the molten glass from the bottom of the forming body to form a glass sheet;
• and
• wherein the temperature T2 at the bottom of the forming body is decoupled by the insulating thermal barrier from the temperature T1 at the top of the forming body such that a change in T2 does not cause a substantial change in T1.