Glass manufacturing – Processes – Repairing or cleaning of apparatus; or batch dust prevention...
Patent
1992-01-10
1993-08-17
Woodard, Joye L.
Glass manufacturing
Processes
Repairing or cleaning of apparatus; or batch dust prevention...
65135, 65335, C03B 302
Patent
active
052364844
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a method of firing a glass-melting furnace and more particularly to such a method in which the batch materials and the firing flame are delivered vertically into the furnace.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a method of feeding and firing a glass-melting furnace in which a feed stream comprising glass batch and combustion air is moved downwardly above the crown of the furnace, characterized in that the downwardly moving feed stream is surrounded by downwardly moving burning fuel, the feed stream and burning fuel are confined in a cylinder prior to entry into the furnace through the furnace crown, the batch in the feed stream is heated to melting temperature, and molten glass droplets fall upon the surface of molten glass in the furnace.
According to another feature of the present invention there is provided a method of feeding and firing a glass-melting furnace in which a feed stream comprising glass batch and combustion air is passed downwardly through a tower above the crown of the furnace, characterised in that fuel is introduced and burned in the tower to heat the glass batch, infra-sound waves are also applied within the tower to enhance transfer of heat from the burning fuel to the glass batch, and a mixture of heated glass batch, combustion air and burning fuel is passed downwardly from the tower through the crown of the furnace.
In a method of feeding and firing a glass-melting furnace in accordance with the present invention the glass batch, combustion air and burning fuel are passed vertically downwardly through the crown of the furnace, and the flame of burning fuel strikes the surface of molten glass in the furnace.
In one embodiment of the invention the glass-melting furnace was constructed with a suspended crown which had at its center a cylinder with a lid. The lid had a central hole and was surrounded by a ring of six holes, the centers of which were all equally spaced from the center of the central hole. The glass batch together with the secondary air was passed through the central hole and fossil fuel (gas or oil) passed via burners through the six holes making up the surrounding ring.
The glass-melting furnace which was fed in this way was a round furnace of about seven square meters area. The furnace was fed via a batch flow bin system and the furnace had a forehearth.
The waste gas was split into two streams, which left the furnace via two exits directly opposite to each other on the diagonal, one waste gas stream heating the forehearth. By use of dampers, the flow of waste gases from one exit to the other was roughly controlled. The flame length was approximately two meters before it impinged onto the surface of the glass bath.
A furnace of this construction was used in the manufacture of a glass having a very high melting temperature, the glass having to be maintained at a temperature in excess of 1400.degree. C. The glass composition was a very special glass composition approximating to: Attempts to manufacture this special glass composition using an all electric furnace were not successful even through the batch raw materials used were extremely fine. However it was found that using a glass-melting furnace with the feeding and firing arrangement described above there was virtually complete fusion of the batch.
It is thought that in use of the above described furnace feeding and firing arrangement the batch/air stream surrounded by the fossil fuel mixed slowly during the passage down the cylinder and once free in the furnace the fuel, air and batch mixed strongly in an intense reaction resulting in the complete or almost complete fusion of the batch.
Observation of the glass surface in the furnace immediately below the central or feed area gives the impression that the glass is boiling when in fact molten glass droplets are raining down out of the flame on to the surface of the molten glass in the furnace.
It is found that in this process there is no evidence of unmelted batch pro
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patent: 4617042 (1986-10-01), Stickler
patent: 4617046 (1986-10-01), Hals
patent: 4752314 (1988-06-01), Fassbender et al.
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