Regenerator flow control
AssigneePPG Industries, Inc.
InventorYih-Wan Tsai
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a regenerative furnace of the type used for melting glass, localized overheating of the regenerator packing is minimized, heating of the regenerator packing is made more uniform, and regenerator efficiency is improved by employing a movable baffle in the space beneath the regenerator packing and/or by a baffle in the plenum above the packing.
Claims6
In a regenerative furnace of the type comprising a combustion chamber, a pair of regenerator chambers, a plurality of burner ports spaced along the sides of the combustion chamber providing for the alternate passage of air and exhaust gases between the combustion chamber and the regenerator chambers, and fuel feeding means associated with each burner port, and in which each regenerator chamber includes a gas-pervious bed of refractory material, a plenum communicating with one side of said bed along its length and with said burner ports, an air distributing space communicating with the opposite side of said bed along its length, and a flue communicating with said air distributing space at one end thereof, the improvement comprising:
- a movably mounted baffle in the air distributing space of each regenerator chamber within the first one-third of the air distributing space from the flue end adapted to deflect air passing from said flue into an adjacent portion of said refractory bed;
- and
- means for selectively moving each of said baffles into and out of an air flow diverting position.
The furnace of claim 2 wherein each of said baffles is pivotally mounted.
In a regenerative furnace of the type comprising a combustion chamber, a pair of regenerator chambers, a plurality of burner ports spaced along the sides of the combustion chamber providing for the alternate passage of air and exhaust gases between the combustion chamber and the regenerator chambers, and fuel feeding means associated with each burner port, and in which each regenerator chamber includes a gas-pervious bed of refractory material, a plenum communicating with one side of said bed along its length and with said burner ports, an air distributing space communicating with the opposite side of said bed along its length, and a flue communicating with said air distributing space at one end thereof, the improvement comprising:
- a baffle in each plenum extending across substantially the full cross-sectional area of the plenum so as to block the flow of exhaust gases parallel to the top of said refractory bed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.