Pool separation melt furnace and process
AssigneeGas Research Institute
InventorsAnthony F. Litka, Jamie A. Woodroffe, Victor Goldfarb, Andrew W. McClaine, Kevin J. Keane
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Process and furnace for the continuous production of a molten pool from particulate meltable batch materials such as glass-forming raw materials. The raw materials, in particulate form, are injected into and suspended in combustion gases within a combustor section to form a particle-laden gas flow. The gas flow is accelerated vertically downwardly into a refractory chamber to impact the surface of a molten pool, producing inertial separation of the molten particles into the pool and strong shear forces by the exiting combustion gases, resulting in pool circulation and improved fining and homogeneity.
Claims14
A furnace for the suspension and heating of particles of a batch material to its melting temperature in a hot combustion gas and for the separation of the heated particles from said combustion gas, comprising an upper injector section which opens downwardly through a combustion zone into a larger combustor section which opens downwardly to a lower refractory section having a reservoir area for containing a molten pool of the batch material, said upper injector section comprising a mixing chamber having inlet means for the introduction of a continuous supply of a combustion-supporting gas, and having batch inlet means for the introduction of a continuous supply of particles of batch material to form a uniform mixture with said combustion-supporting gas in said mixing chamber, and a fuel conduit having outlet means adjacent the entrance to said combustor section for supplying and burning a fuel in the presence of said combustion-supporting gas in said combustion zone to form and expand into said combustor section a suspension of said particles in hot combustion gas;
- means for directing said suspension vertically-downwardly through said combustor section as a particle-laden gas flow in which said particles become heated to their melting temperature;
- and means for accelerating the heated particle-laden gas flow into said lower refractory section with a sufficient force to form a depressed well area in the surface of a molten pool of the batch material deposited in the reservoir area of said refractory section, whereby the heated particles of batch material are inertially-separated from the combustion gas in said particle-laden gas flow and are dissolved into said molten pool while the combustion gas is repelled and exits the well area with shear forces which cause circulation in said molten pool, and vent means for removing the separated combustion gas from said refractory section.
A continuous process for suspending and heating particulate batch materials in hot combustion gases and for separating the heated particulate materials from the combustion gases, the process comprising the steps of:
- A. continuously supplying combustion-supporting gas and meltable particulate batch materials to a combustion zone at the entrance of a combustion chamber;
- B. continuously supplying fuel to the combustion zone;
- C. burning the fuel and combustion-supporting gas to form and expand into the combustion chamber a hot combustion gas that suspends the particulate batch materials and heats the particulate batch materials to their melting temperature;
- and
- D. accelerating the heated particulate batch materials and hot combustion gas vertically downwardly through a restricted orifice into a reservoir chamber and into contact with the surface of a molten pool of said batch materials in the reservoir chamber, said accelerating step being performed with sufficient force to integrate and dissolve the particulate batch materials into the molten pool while repelling and separating the combustion gas to produce circulation of the molten pool.
A process for suspending and heating particulate batch materials in hot combustion gases and for separating the heated particulate materials from the combustion gases, the process comprising the steps of:
- A. supplying meltable particulate batch materials into an annular mixing chamber surrounding and coaxial with a fuel conduit;
- B. introducing a flow of combustion-supporting gas into the annular mixing chamber to suspend the particulate batch materials in the combustion-supporting gas;
- C. feeding the mixture of combustion-supporting gas and suspended particulate batch materials from the annular mixing chamber into a combustion zone in a combustion chamber;
- D. supplying fuel to the combustion zone through the fuel conduit;
- E. igniting the fuel and combustion-supporting gas in said combustion zone to form a hot combustion gas that suspends the particulate batch materials in the combustion chamber and heats the particulate batch materials to their melting temperature in the combustion chamber;
- F. accelerating the heated particulate batch materials and hot combustion gas vertically downwardly through a restricted orifice into a reservoir chamber and into contact with the surface of a molten pool of said batch materials in the reservoir chamber, said accelerating step being performed with sufficient force to integrate and dissolve the particulate batch materials into the molten pool while repelling and separating the combustion gas to produce circulation of the molten pool.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.