Method for producing molten glass
AssigneeSaint-Gobain Vitrage
InventorsPaul Burget, Michel Zortea
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method for producing molten glass in a melting furnace 1 equipped with a tank containing a glass bath 3, where the ingredients of the glass are melted in a refining zone 10 and the molten glass flows into an adjacent conditioning zone 13. According to the invention, the current is driven to a passage 31, which is located at the common boundary of the refining zone 10 and the conditioning one 13, this boundary or corset has a narrower width than that of the current, and the current is forced to go through the passage 31. Thus the homogeneity of the glass is increased at drawing off.
Claims4
A method for making molten glass in a melting furnace from a vitrifiable composition comprising:
- (a) feeding the vitrifiable composition through a charging hole into a refining zone of the melting furnace, said refining zone equipped with a heating means for melting the vitrifiable composition;
- (b) melting the vitrifiable composition in the refining zone to form a molton glass having a forward current and a countercurrent, said forward current flowing away from the charging hole on an upper surface of said molten glass and said countercurrent flowing beneath said forward current toward the charging hole;
- (c) restricting the flow of said molten glass forward current by means of a corset interposed between said refining zone and a conditioning zone of said melting furnace, said corset having a plurality of agitating means for creating a continuous current in said molten glass and for opposing direct passage of said molten glass from said refining zone to said conditioning zone, where said agitating means define a narrow flow passage for said molten glass at the first side of the corset and a wide flow passage for said molten glass at the second side of the corset, and where said narrow passage is substantially narrower than said wide passage;
- (d)operating said agitating means in such a manner that they will direct forward current of said molten glass by means of said agitating means toward said narrow passage;
- (e) passing central streams of said molten glass forward current from said refining zone by action of said agitating means to said narrow passage and then to said conditioning zone;
- (f) passing a second-side end stream of said molten glass forward current from said refining zone through said wide passage to said conditioning zone;
- (g) conditioning said molten glass in said conditioning zone;
- and
- (h) recovering said conditioned molten glass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.