Process and device for melting and fining glass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10414682-B2
Application number	US-201515307258-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2015
Priority date	Apr 29, 2014
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

The invention relates to a process and a device for manufacturing molten glass comprising from upstream to downstream a furnace for melting and fining glass equipped with cross-fired overhead burners, then a conditioning basin supplied with glass by the furnace, the dimensions of this manufacturing device being such that K is higher than 3.5, the factor K being determined from the dimensions of the device. The invention makes it possible to dimension a device for melting glass so that it is smaller and consumes less energy while producing high quality glass.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for manufacturing molten glass in a device comprising, from upstream to downstream, a furnace for melting and fining glass equipped with cross-fired overhead burners, and then a conditioning basin comprising one or more compartments, the process comprising melting glass in the furnace,
wherein:
the furnace comprises a melting zone and a fining zone;
the bottom of the fining zone and the bottom of the conditioning basin are deep enough that a single downstream recirculation loop passes through the fining zone and through all the compartments of the conditioning basin;
the conditioning basin is supplied with glass by the furnace; and
the dimensions of the device are such that K is higher than 3.5, where:

K
=

K
a

+

∑
i

⁢

K

S
i

,

in which:

K
a

=

0.000727
×

S
f

×

∫

x
0

x
1

⁢

[

P
⁡

(
x
)

]

2

[

σ
⁡

(
x
)

]

3

⁢
dx

;

S f represents the area under flame in the furnace;
x 0 is the abscissa in the general flow direction of the glass of the end of the area under flame in the furnace;
x 1 is the abscissa in the general flow direction of the glass of the end of the conditioning basin;
σ(x) represents the area of the cross section of flow of the glass of the device at the abscissa x;
P(x) represents the perimeter of the cross section of flow of the glass of the device at the abscissa x; and
Σ i K Si represents the sum of the K Si due to a singular element in the device downstream of the area under flame in the furnace, a singular element producing, from upstream to downstream and over less than 2 m in the flow direction of the glass, a decrease in the cross section of flow of the glass of more than 10% then an increase in the cross section of flow of the glass of more than 10%, where

K

S
i

=

0.0012
×

(

exp
⁡

[

5.16
⁢

(

σ
i

-

σ

S
i

σ
i

)

2.55

]

-
1

)

⁢

(

S
f

σ
i

)

2

;

σ i representing the area of the cross section of flow of the glass just upstream of the singular element S i ; and
σ Si representing the area of the minimum cross section of flow produced by the singular element S i .

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein K>5.5.

3. The process of claim 2 , wherein K>7.5.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein K is higher than 9.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein a ratio of the area under flame in the furnace to the area of the conditioning basin is higher than 1.4.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein the ratio of the area under flame in the furnace to the area of the conditioning basin is higher than 1.6.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the ratio of the area under flame in the furnace to the area of the conditioning basin is higher than 1.8.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the furnace is sufficiently deep that an upstream recirculation loop and the downstream recirculation loop form in the furnace.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the conditioning basin comprises, from upstream to downstream, a neck then a working end.

10. The process of

Assignees

• Saint Gobain

Inventors

• Mario Olivier
• Le Verge Arnaud
• Combes Jean-Marie

Classifications

• Y02P40/57

  Improving the yield, e-g- reduction of reject rates · CPC title

• C03B5/182

  by moving the molten glass along fixed elements, e.g. deflectors, weirs, baffle plates · CPC title

• C03B5/04 Primary

  in tank furnaces {(C03B5/02 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• C03B5/23

  Cooling the molten glass (C03B5/18, C03B5/225 take precedence) · CPC title

• C03B18/02

  Forming sheets · CPC title