Method for fabrication of glass preform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11912604-B2
Application number	US-202016993182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2020
Priority date	Aug 13, 2019
Publication date	Feb 27, 2024
Grant date	Feb 27, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for fabrication of a glass preform. The method includes production of soot particles in a combustion chamber using a precursor material. The heating of the precursor material produces the soot particles along with one or more impurities. In addition, the method includes agglomeration of the soot particles. Further, the method includes separation of the soot particles from the one or more impurities. Also, the separation of the soot particles is performed in a cyclone separator. Furthermore, the method includes collection of the soot particles. Also, the soot particles are compacted with facilitation of a preform compaction chamber. Also, the compacted preform is sintered with facilitation of a sintering furnace. The compaction of the soot particles followed by sintering results in formation of the glass preform.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fabrication of a glass preform, the method comprising:
production of soot particles in a combustion chamber using a precursor material, wherein the soot particles are produced by heating the precursor material with facilitation of a plurality of burners, wherein the heating of the precursor material produces the soot particles along with one or more impurities, wherein the combustion chamber comprises the plurality of burners and an inlet, wherein the combustion chamber is filled with a purging gas, wherein the inlet is used for insertion of the purging gas in the combustion chamber, and wherein the combustion chamber is made of hastelloy material;
agglomeration of the soot particles, wherein the agglomeration is performed inside a plurality of agglomerator tubes;
separation of the soot particles from the one or more impurities, wherein the separation of the soot particles is performed in a cyclone separator;
collection of the soot particles, wherein the collection of the soot particles is performed in a soot collection chamber; and
compaction of the soot particles, wherein the soot particles are compacted with facilitation of a preform compaction chamber, wherein the compaction of the soot particles is performed with continuous facilitation of a dehydration gas, and wherein the dehydration gas is chlorine;
sintering of the compacted soot particles, wherein the compaction of the soot particles followed by the sintering results in formation of the glass preform.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor material is silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4), and wherein the heating of the SiCl4 produces the one or more impurities comprising HCl and water vapors.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the precursor material is at least one of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) or octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS or D4).

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of agglomerator tubes ( 110 ) is surrounded by a cooling layer, and wherein the cooling layer facilitates cooling of the soot particles inside the plurality of agglomerator tubes.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the compaction of the soot particles is performed using at least one of uniaxial compaction process, cold isostatic compaction process and hot isostatic compaction process.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising dehydrating the soot particles in the preform compaction chamber with continuous facilitation of the dehydration gas, wherein the compaction of the soot particles results in generation of a soot preform, and wherein the dehydration gas removes an OH ion concentration from the soot preform.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the compaction of the soot particles results in generation of a soot preform, wherein the sintering of the soot preform in a controlled atmospheric furnace leads to the formation of the glass preform, and wherein the soot preform sintered at high temperature in a range of 1500° Celsius to 1600° Celsius results in formation of the glass preform.

Assignees

• Sterlite Tech Ltd

Inventors

• Gaikwad Sandeep
• Gomatam Badri
• Pandey Anand

Classifications

• C03B19/066 Primary

  for the production of quartz or fused silica articles (other processes specially adapted for the production of quartz or fused silica articles C03B20/00) · CPC title

• C01B33/12

  Silica; Hydrates thereof, e.g. lepidoic silicic acid · CPC title

• C01B33/183

  by oxidation or hydrolysis in the vapour phase of silicon compounds such as halides, trichlorosilane, monosilane · CPC title

• C03B19/063

  by hot-pressing powders · CPC title

• C03C3/06

  with more than 90% silica by weight, e.g. quartz {(C03C3/045 takes precedence)} · CPC title