Method of controlling melting in a cold crown glass melter
AssigneeCorning Glass Works
InventorGeorge B. Boettner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method is set forth for controlling the height of batch material on the surface of a molten bath in a cold-crown or vertical melting furnace by measuring the level of the upper surface of the batch material, the level of the fusion line between the batch and bath, and the effective hydrostatic head of the molten glass and batch material thereon over a predetermined height at such known fusion line level. The thickness of the batch blanket is then determined from the level of the fusion line and the measured level of the top of the batch blanket, and power input and rate of batch distribution are controlled to maintain such desired levels and accordingly a predetermined batch thickness, by continuously monitoring the level of the batch material and the effective hydrostatic head.
Claims15
A method of controlling the thickness of a batch blanket on the surface of molten glass contained within a glass melting furnace which comprises:
- measuring the height of said batch blanket;
- regulating the fill rate to maintain a desired blanket height;
- measuring the fusion line level at the surface of the molten glass,
- measuring the effective hydrostatic head of the molten glass and batch material within said furnace above a predetermined level at the known fusion line level;
- and
- regulating the power input to said furnace so as to maintain the desired effective hydrostatic head and maintain the predetermined fusion line between the molten glass and the batch blanket so as to control the thickness of said blanket.
A method of controlling the thickness of a batch blanket on the surface of molten glass contained within a glass melting furnace which comprises:
- measuring the following variables:
- (a) the level of the fusion line between the upper surface of the molten glass contained within the furnace and the bottom of the batch blanket thereon;
- (b) the height of the top surface of the batch blanket on the molten glass;
- and
- (c) the effective hydrostatic head of the molten glass and batch material within said furnace above a predetermined level for the measured fusion line level;
- utilizing such measured level of the existing fusion line and the blanket height to determine the blanket thickness therebetween;
- controlling the power input to said furnace to maintain a desired fusion line level while controlling the batch flow rate to maintain a desired batch blanket height on said fusion line and thereby control the batch thickness within the furnace.
A method of controlling the melting of batch materials in a cold-crown glass melting furnace which comprises:
- providing a bath of molten glass within said furnace;
- providing a blanket of batch material to be melted on the surface of said bath of molten glass;
- measuring the height of the batch blanket on said molten bath;
- controlling the fill rate of batch material to the furnace to maintain a desired height of batch material on the bath of molten glass;
- measuring the level of the fusion line between the surface of the molten glass and the bottom of the batch blanket;
- measuring the effective hydrostatic head of the molten glass and the batch blanket thereon above a predetermined level at the known level of the fusion line between the surface of the molten bath and the bottom of the batch blanket;
- determining a power-to-fill ratio based upon the oxide composition of the batch material;
- applying power to the molten bath in accordance with the determined power-to-fill ratio;
- monitoring the effective hydrostatic head;
- and
- trimming the input power in accordance with the value of the hydrostatic head so as to effectively maintain a constant fusion line level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.