Owens-brockway Glass Container Inc.

Scott Weil

Zhongming Wang

Tilak Gullinkala

Roger P Smith

Udaya K Vempati

Shivakumar S Kadur

Michael P Remington

Scott P Cooper

Sutapa Bhaduri

Pramod K Sharma

Robin L Flynn

Shane T Rashley

Walter Anderson

Gregory W Nafziger

Karl Johnston

Thomas G Green

Alexandra Fuller

Randy Ernsthausen

Phillip J Rausch

Bernard Altendorfer

Shivakunar S Kadur

A method of providing glass from a glass melting furnace to at least one mold, including providing an uninterrupted glass communication path from an outlet of the glass melting furnace to the at least one mold, and pressurizing the path at a location downstream of the outlet to move molten glass into the at least one mold. A related system, apparatus, and molding equipment are also disclosed.

Molten glass feeding and molding

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a glass manufacturing system includes a hot-end subsystem, including: a submerged combustion melter that melts feedstock to produce molten glass; a stiller that receives the molten glass from the submerged combustion melter and that includes a stilling tank to still the molten glass and that is configured to control outflow of the stilled molten glass to effectively decouple viscosity of the molten glass from the flow rate of the molten glass and thereby control finer molten glass levels; and a finer that is mechanically decoupled from the stiller, and that receives and fines the stilled molten glass to produce fined molten glass. Many other aspects of the system are also disclosed and claimed.

Glass manufacturing

A method of fining glass is disclosed that includes flowing a molten glass bath through a fining chamber. The molten glass bath has an undercurrent that flows beneath a skimmer that is partially submerged in the molten glass bath. One or more fining agents are introduced into the undercurrent of the molten glass bath directly beneath the skimmer from a dissolvable fining material component. In this way, the fining agent(s) may selectively target the gas bubbles drawn under the skimmer within the undercurrent of the molten glass for removal. The method may be employed to fine molten gas produced in a submerged combustion melter. A fining vessel for fining molten glass is also disclosed that includes a housing, a skimmer, and a dissolvable fining material component disposed directly beneath the skimmer.

Selective chemical fining of small bubbles in glass

A method of fining glass is disclosed that includes flowing a molten glass bath through a fining chamber. The molten glass bath has an undercurrent that flows beneath a skimmer that is partially submerged in the molten glass bath. One or more fining agents are introduced into the undercurrent of the molten glass bath directly beneath the skimmer from a carrier gas. In this way, the fining agent(s) may selectively target the gas bubbles drawn under the skimmer within the undercurrent of the molten glass for removal. The method may be employed to fine molten gas produced in a submerged combustion melter. A fining vessel for fining molten glass is also disclosed.

A method of fining glass is disclosed that includes flowing a molten glass bath through a fining chamber. The molten glass bath has an undercurrent that flows beneath a skimmer that is partially submerged in the molten glass bath. One or more fining agents are introduced into the undercurrent of the molten glass bath directly beneath the skimmer from a dissolvable fining material component. In this way, the fining agent(s) may selectively target the gas bubbles drawn under the skimmer within the undercurrent of the molten glass for removal. The method may be employed to fine molten gas produced in a submerged combustion melter. A fining vessel for fining molten glass is also disclosed.

A glass fining system, glass fining device, and method are disclosed. The glass fining device in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes at least one heated orifice through which molten glass flows from a glass melter to produce at least one superheated glass stream; and a low-pressure chamber disposed downstream from the heated orifice, where the at least one superheated glass stream flows from the at least one heated orifice and into the low-pressure chamber, and where the low-pressure chamber surrounds the at least one superheated glass stream. In some embodiments, the low-pressure chamber may include at least one surface extender.

Fining glass using high temperature and low pressure

A glass precursor gel and a method of making a glass product from the glass precursor gel are disclosed. The glass precursor gel includes a bulk amorphous oxide-based matrix that is homogeneously chemically mixed and includes 30 mol % to 90 wt. % silica and at least one of the following: (A) 0.1 mol % to 25 mol % of one or more alkali oxides in sum total, (B) 0.1 mol % to 25 mol % of one or more alkaline earth oxides in sum total, (C) 1 mol % to 20 mol % boric oxide, (D) 5 mol % to 80 mol % lead oxide, or (E) 0.1 mol % to 10 mol % aluminum oxide. A method of making a glass product from the glass precursor gel involves obtaining the glass precursor gel, melting the glass precursor gel into molten glass, and forming the molten glass into a glass product.

Glass precursor gel

Glass batch materials and processes for preparing and melting structured pellets of glass batch materials to produce molten glass. A structured pellet of glass batch materials may include a core and a shell surrounding the core. The core may include a mixture of glass-forming materials and the shell may include a thermally-activated material. The thermally-activated material may be formulated to undergo an exothermic chemical reaction when heated to a temperature at or above a threshold temperature such that heat is transferred from the shell to the mixture of glass-forming materials in the core.

Glass batch material and process for making glass

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber for containing glass melt and a conveyor for receiving glass batch material and feeding the glass batch material to the furnace chamber. A dam wall is disposed with respect to the conveyor such that batch material from the conveyor must flow upward over the dam wall before entering the furnace chamber. The top of the dam wall may be below the level of the melt pool in the furnace chamber.

Glass furnace

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber for containing glass melt and a screw conveyor for receiving glass batch material and feeding the glass batch material to the furnace chamber. A dam wall is disposed with respect to the screw conveyor such that batch material from the screw conveyor must flow upward over the dam wall before entering the furnace chamber. The top of the dam wall may be below the level of the melt pool in the furnace chamber.

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Maumee, OH, United States of America

Scott Weil