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US 4,592,770 AGranted
Glass melter
AssigneeGAF Corporation
InventorsWilliam O. Pearman, Joseph L. Hunt, William P. Cunningham
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGAF Corporation
InventorsWilliam O. Pearman, Joseph L. Hunt, William P. Cunningham
Estimating the term…
The glass melter has an outlet portion formed as a heating device for controlling the outlet flow rate of molten glass from the melter. Raw batch material that is used to form the molten glass is heated to a molten state at a first temperature range. The molten glass, while flowing toward the outlet of the melter, is cooled to a second temperature range to increase the viscosity of the molten glass to a desired level. The outlet member then heats the exiting molten glass a predetermined amount to decrease the glass viscosity in accordance with desired flow rate requirements. Heating of the outlet member is accomplished by imposing a relatively low voltage and a relatively high amperage on the outlet member. Accordingly, by using the outlet member as a heater a controlled flow rate of molten glass from the melter is achieved.
A glass melter comprising, a melter body defining a containment chamber for receiving raw batch material, melting means in said chamber for heating said raw batch material to a molten glass state, an outlet member for said melter body defining an outlet flow path and having an outlet opening of predetermined size, guide means inside said containment chamber but above said outlet member and insulated from said outlet member for directing the flow of molten glass to said outlet member, cooling means positioned so as to cool glass in said guide means electrical power means communicating directly with said outlet member such that said outlet member acts as a resistance and heats up in accordance with the amount of electric power furnished by said power supply means to said outlet member, and temperature control means communicating with said outlet member and said power supply means for controlling the amount of heat buildup in said outlet member to control the viscosity of the molten glass along said outlet flow path and passing through said outlet opening, whereby the resistive heating of said outlet member is used without any flow restricting valves to control the outlet flow rate of said molten glass from said melter body.
A method of preparing molten glass comprising, continuously melting raw batch material to a first molten glass state, maintaining the molten glass in a containment chamber, establishing an outlet flow path from the containment chamber through guide means to an outlet member which is insulated from the guide means to limit heat exchange between the guide means and the outlet member, flowing the molten glass from the containment chamber to the outlet member, and varying the rate of flow of the molten glass through the outlet member by initially cooling the glass in the guide means and then using the outlet member as a resistance to accomplish an electrical heat buildup in the outlet member to heat the outlet member to control the viscosity of the molten glass passing through the outlet member, whereby the resistive heating of the outlet member is used without any flow restricting valves to control the outlet flow rate of molten glass from the containment chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.