Glass furnace provided with optical fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12331995-B2
Application number	US-201917263812-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 26, 2019
Priority date	Aug 1, 2018
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

A glass furnace including a refractory portion defining a hot face in contact or intended to be in contact with molten glass or with a gaseous environment in contact with molten glass, and a cold face at a distance from the hot face, and a temperature measurement device. The temperature measurement device including a waveguide that includes a measurement portion including at least one temperature measurement sensor configured to send a response signal in response to the injection of an interrogation signal into the waveguide. The temperature measurement device including an interrogator connected to an input of the waveguide and configured to inject the interrogation signal into the input, to receive the response signal returned by the sensor in response to the injection of the interrogation signal, to analyze the response signal received and to transmit a message according to the analysis.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A glass furnace comprising:
a refractory portion defining a face in contact or intended to be in contact with molten glass or with a gaseous environment in contact with molten glass, as a “hot face”, and a face at a distance from said hot face, as a “cold face”, and
a temperature measurement device comprising one or a plurality of waveguides and one or a plurality of interrogators:
each waveguide comprising a measurement portion comprising at least one temperature measurement sensor configured to send a response signal in response to an injection of an interrogation signal into the waveguide, one of said interrogators being connected to an input of the waveguide and configured to inject the interrogation signal into said input, to receive said response signal returned by the at least one temperature measurement sensor in response to the injection of said interrogation signal, to analyze the response signal received to obtain an analysis, and to transmit a message according to said analysis;
the glass furnace comprising a thermally insulating layer adjacent to the cold face of the refractory portion,
wherein said thermally insulating layer, or an elementary insulating layer when said thermally insulating layer consists of at least two elementary insulating layers made of different materials, being formed, by sintering at a temperature between 400° C. and 1200° C., around the measurement portion, so that said measurement portion is in contact with said thermally insulating layer, or with said elementary insulating layer when said thermally insulating layer consists of at least two elementary insulating layers made of different materials.

2. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the thermally insulating layer comprises two said elementary insulating layers between which, or within one of which, the measurement portion extends.

3. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said each waveguide is an optical fiber and the temperature measurement sensor is a Bragg grating.

4. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 3 , wherein said each waveguide has a diameter of less than 200 micrometers.

5. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the refractory portion is a side wall of a glass melting tank, or a floor, or a feeder, or a superstructure part, or a forming part, or a throat block.

6. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 5 , said temperature measurement device comprising a plurality of said waveguides, the glass furnace comprising one or a plurality of sheets, each sheet consisting of a set of measurement portions of said waveguides and extending along a surface parallel to the hot face and/or to the cold face.

7. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 6 , comprising a glass melting tank comprising a side wall and a floor, and wherein a sheet of said one or a plurality of sheets encircles the side wall of the glass melting tank and/or wherein a sheet of said one or a plurality of sheets extends into a layer of concrete extending beneath the floor.

8. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a density of said temperature measurement sensors of said plurality of said waveguides in said sheet is higher than three sensors per m 2 of the hot face of the refractory portion.

9. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 8 , wherein said density of temperature measurement sensors in said sheet is higher than 50 temperature measurement sensors per m 2 of the hot face of the refractory portion.

10. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 6 , comprising a plurality of said sheets comprising a first sheet and second sheet, said first and second sheets extending parallel to one another, a distance between the first and second sheets being greater than 1 cm, the measurement portions of the first sheet intersecting the measurement portions of the second sheet at intersections, when said first and second sheets are viewed in a direction normal to at least one of said first and second sheets, a sensor being arranged, in the first sheet and/or the second sheet, at more than 50% of the intersections.

11. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 10 , wherein, at each intersection between measurement portions, sensors are arranged on each measurement portion.

12. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a plurality of said temperature measurement sensors, which may be in contact or not in contact, superposed along a direction perpendicular to the hot face.

13. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a plurality of said interrogators and a plurality of said waveguides, wherein at least one of said waveguides has a first input at a first end and a second input at a second end, and wherein the first input is connected to a first of said interrogators and the second input is connected to a second of said interrogators.

14. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , said glass furnace comprising a floor constituted by slabs, wherein the refractory portion is said floor, and said thermally insulating layer consists of a layer of refractory concrete which extends beneath said slabs.

15. A glass furnace as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said thermally insulating layer comprising two said elementary insulating layers, an outermost layer of said two said elementary insulating layers with respect to an interior of the glass furnace having a thermal conductivity of lower than 1.3 W·m −1 ·K −1 .

16. A glass furnace comprising:
a refractory portion defining a face in contact or intended to be in contact with molten glass or with a gaseous environment in contact with molten glass, as a “hot face” and a face at a distance from said hot face, as a “cold face”, and
a temperature measurement device comprising:
a waveguide comprising a measurement portion comprising a plurality of temperature measurement sensors configured to send a response signal in response to an injection of an interrogation signal into the waveguide; and
an interrogator connected to an input of the waveguide and configured to inject the interrogation signal into said input, to receive said response signal returned by the temperature measurement sensors in response to the injection of said interrogation signal, to analyse the response signal received and to transmit a message according to said analysis;

wherein the refractory portion is a floor constituted by slabs, and wherein the glass furnace comprises a thermally insulating layer consisting of a layer of refractory concrete which extends beneath said slabs,
said thermally insulating layer being formed, by sintering at a temperature of between 400° C. and 1200° C., around the measurement portion, so that said measurement portion is in contact with said thermally insulating layer, or, when said thermally insulating layer consists of at least first and second elementary insulating layers made of different materials, is in contact with said first elementary insulating layer,
wherein the waveguide is an optical fiber and the temperature measurement sensors are Bragg gratings.

17. A glass furnace comprising:
a refractory portion defining a face in contact or intended to be in contact with molten glass or with a gaseous environment in contact with molten glass, as a “hot face” and a face at a distance from said hot face, as a “cold face”, and
a temperature measurement device comprising:
a waveguide comprising a measurement portion comprising a plurality of temperature measurement sensors configured to send a response signal in response to an injection of an interrogation signal into the waveguide; and
an interrogator connected to an input of the wavegu

Assignees

• Saint Gobain Ct Recherches
• Saint Gobain Centre De Rech

Inventors

• Boinet Mickaël
• Cabodi Isabelle
• Citti Olivier
• Gleize Vincent
• Vuillermet Jean-Gaël

Classifications

• F27D2019/0003

  Monitoring the temperature or a characteristic of the charge and using it as a controlling value · CPC title

• F27D21/0014

  Devices for monitoring temperature · CPC title

• C03B5/16 Primary

  Special features of the melting process; Auxiliary means specially adapted for glass-melting furnaces · CPC title

• G01K3/08

  giving differences of values (using thermoelectric elements G01K7/02); giving differentiated values · CPC title

• G01K11/32

  using changes in transmittance, scattering or luminescence in optical fibres · CPC title