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AssigneePPG Industries, Inc.
InventorsRichard L. Cerutti, Vincent I. Henry, John E. Sensi
Estimating the term…
A plurality of high-temperature operating, corrosion-resistant heat pipes are employed to distribute heat transversely and longitudinally from normally hotter portions of a glass forming chamber to normally cooler portions of the same chamber in order to provide a more uniform thermal environment for the forming of flat glass. In particular, heat pipes are provided beneath the surface of a pool of glass-supporting molten metal in such a chamber to remove heat from a central and usually upstream region of such a chamber and transfer it to a marginal and preferably downstream region of the chamber. By transferring the heat in this manner, the temperature gradients within the chamber may be manipulated to be more uniform throughout a forming region so that glass of improved quality can be produced with improved efficiency, utilizing less energy than normally required for producing glass according to typical conventional float glass manufacturing methods.
In a glass forming chamber comprising an elongated enclosure containing a pool of molten metal extending lengthwise of the enclosure for supporting glass, said pool of molten metal comprising a longitudinally extending centrally disposed high temperature region and adjacent longitudinally extending edge regions of lower temperatures which produce temperature differences in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the chamber, means for delivering a layer of molten glass onto the pool of molten metal, means for advancing the glass along the surface of the pool of molten metal, means for cooling and applying forces to the advancing glass to make a continuous sheet of glass and means for removing a continuous sheet of glass from the chamber, the improvement which comprises a heat pipe disposed in heat transfer relationship with said pool of molten metal, said heat pipe comprising a sealed conduit having therein a vapor space, a condensable working fluid space and a wick member extending between said spaces, at least one portion of said conduit in which said condensable working fluid space is located being in heat transfer relation to a high temperature region of said pool of molten metal and at least one portion of said conduit in which said vapor space is located being in heat transfer relation to a low temperature region of said pool of molten metal, whereby the temperatures in said pool of molten metal in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of said chamber and along which said heat pipe is located are maintained more uniform.
In a method of manufacturing glass wherein a layer of molten metal in an enclosed forming chamber and the delivered glass is advanced along the surface of the pool of molten metal and is cooled and subjected to forces while advancing to form a continuous dimensionally stable sheet of glass, the improvement which comprises transferring heat from relatively hotter portions of the advancing glass to relatively colder portions of the advancing glass by disposing at least one heat pipe in the forming chamber such that the heat pipe, comprising a sealed conduit having therein a vapor space, a condensable working fluid space and a wick member extending between the spaces, has at least one first portion of said conduit in which the condensable working fluid space located in heat transfer relation to a high temperature region of the forming chamber adjacent such relatively hotter portions of the advancing glass and has at least one second portion of said conduit in which the vapor space located in heat transfer relation to a low temperature region of the forming chamber adjacent such relatively colder portions of the advancing glass and vaporizing a working fluid at said first portion of heat pipe adjacent such relatively hotter portions, conveying the vaporized working fluid through the heat pipe to said second portion of the heat pipe adjacent such relatively colder portions, condensing the conveyed vaporized working fluid at such second portion of the heat pipe and conveying the condensed working fluid through the heat pipe back to such first portion of the heat pipe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.