Ppg Industries Ohio, Inc.

Russell Willis Schrier

Yu Jiao

Chao Yu

Dennis D Warren

Joseph Medzius

James Franklin Priddy

Robert M Bonaddio

Joseph G Koepfinger

Methods and systems are provided for automated shaping of a glass sheet. The methods comprise preheating the glass, bending the glass through selective, and focused beam heating through the use of an ultra-high frequency, high-power electromagnetic wave, and computer implemented processes utilizing thermal and shape (positional) data obtained in real-time, and cooling the glass sheet to produce a glass sheet suitable for use in air and space vehicles.

Microwave heating glass bending process

A furnace for shaping glass sheets for aircraft transparencies using the cut-to-size method includes a preheat and cooling furnace defined as a first furnace, and a shaping furnace. A conveyor geared for reciprocating movement moves a bending iron supporting a glass sheet through the first furnace set to a preheat temperature. The glass sheet supported on the bending iron is heated in the shaping furnace by microwave beams from a gyrotron to heat portions of the glass sheet to be shaped to a complex shape. After the sheet is shaped, the conveyor moves the bending iron supporting the shaped glass sheet from the shaping furnace through the first furnace set to a cooling cycle.

Heating and shaping system using microwave focused beam heating

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Oakmont, PA, United States of America

Russell Willis Schrier