Owens-brockway Glass Container Inc.

Guardian Industries Corporation

Zhongming Wang

Scott Weil

Udaya K Vempati

Shane T Rashley

Ya-Cheng Lin

Shivakumar S Kadur

Nicholas A Schoenrock

Roger P Smith

Earnest Iddings

Carol Ann Click

Michael P Remington

Tilak Gullinkala

Yiwei Lu

Pramod K Sharma

Carl Lucas Fayerweather

Edward A Ordway

Nathan P Mellott

Kevin Xin Yu

Jim St Jean

Dinesh Gera

Desaraju V Varaprasad

D Wayne Leidy

Liming Shi

Thomas G Green

Terence K G Howse

Sutapa Bhaduri

Casey Townsend

David B Orleans

Randy Ernsthausen

Phillip J Rausch

Qing Jiang

Shivakunar S Kadur

Terence KG Howse

Earnest R Iddings

Ernest Iddings

Carol A Clik

A glass fining system, multi-stage vacuum housing, and method are disclosed. The glass fining system includes a multi-stage vacuum housing comprising a first melt receipt tank configured to receive molten material, where the first melt receipt tank is disposed in a first vacuum chamber; a first refining channel configured to flow the molten material from the first melt receipt tank through a second vacuum chamber; a second melt receipt tank configured to receive the molten material from the first refining channel, where the second melt receipt tank is disposed in a third vacuum chamber; and a second refining channel configured to flow the molten material from the second melt receipt tank and through a fourth vacuum chamber; and a glass melter coupled to the multi-stage vacuum housing.

Fining molten material using reduced pressure

A method of producing glass includes discharging an outflow () of fined molten glass from a fining tank () of a vacuum induction fining apparatus () and delivering the fined molten glass into a thermal conditioning tank () that is separated from the fining tank by an open space () occupied by an ambient environment (). The fining tank includes a vertically-elongated housing () that defines an interior fining chamber () where a bath () of molten glass is collected and maintained. The interior fining chamber is maintained at subatmospheric pressure and the housing is surrounded by at least one induction coil () to introduce heat into the molten glass bath. The vacuum maintained in the interior fining chamber and the heating supplied by the induction coil(s) promote the ascension of gas bubbles upwards through the molten glass bath. A glass-producing system that includes the vacuum induction fining apparatus is also disclosed.

High temperature and low pressure fining of submerged combustion or other glass

A submerged combustion melter includes first, second, third, and fourth side walls extending upwardly from a bottom wall, a crown extending inwardly with respect to the side walls and over the bottom wall to establish a melting chamber, an exhaust port configured to exhaust gas from the melting chamber, a baffle coupled to and extending inwardly from the third side wall to divide the melting chamber into melting sub-chambers that share the exhaust port and having an end spaced away from the fourth side wall, an inlet configured for introducing a glass batch into the melter, and an outlet configured to remove molten glass from the melting sub-chambers, which direct product flow in a laterally undulating flow path from the inlet to the outlet.

Multi-chamber submerged combustion melter and system

A feed assembly having a hollow tubular body and a batch charger disposed within the hollow tubular body is disclosed. The hollow tubular body extends along a central axis from a first end to a second end and, further, comprises a port that tapers from a first port end to a second port end at the second end of the tubular body. The batch charger includes a first charger end proximate the first end of the tubular body and a second charger end proximate the second end of the tubular body. The second charger end is spaced away from the second end of the tubular body to provide a port space within the port. An apparatus that includes a melting chamber and a feed assembly is also disclosed along with a method of feeding batch materials into a melting chamber.

Batch charger for a melting furnace

A method of of fining low-density submerged combustion glass includes introducing unfined molten glass produced in a submerged combustion melter into a fining chamber of a fining tank and, further, introducing additive particles into the fining chamber that comprise a glass reactant material and one or more fining agents. The one or more fining agents are released into the molten glass bath upon consumption of the additive particles in the molten glass bath to chemically fine the molten glass bath and the glass reactant material includes one or more materials that integrate into the molten glass bath upon melting. Additionally, the method includes discharging fined molten glass out of the fining chamber of the fining tank. The discharged fined molten glass has a volume percentage of gas bubbles that is less than the volume percentage of gas bubbles in the unfined molten glass introduced into the fining chamber.

Fining submerged combustion glass

A gradient fining tank and a method of operating the tank to refine foamy molten glass is disclosed. The gradient fining tank includes a floor, a roof, and two laterally-spaced sidewalls that at least partially define an interior chamber of the tank. The floor of the tank is profiled to provide the tank with an extended shallow portion that defines an inlet to the interior chamber and a deep holding portion that defines an outlet from the interior chamber. An entry section of the floor provides the extended shallow portion of the tank and a transition section and exit section of the floor provide the deep holding portion. A depth of the interior chamber at an outlet end of the deep holding portion is greater than a depth of the interior chamber at the outlet end of the extended shallow portion.

Gradient fining tank for refining foamy molten glass and a method of using the same

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

An apparatus for manufacturing glass includes a furnace. A doghouse of the furnace receives and melts solid-glass forming material using one or more submerged combustion burners. An elongated tank positioned downstream of the doghouse includes a melting chamber, a refining chamber, and a thermal conditioning. The melting chamber has in inlet through which molten glass is received from the doghouse. The refining chamber is positioned downstream of the melting chamber and receives molten glass from the melting chamber. The thermal conditioning chamber is positioned downstream of the refining chamber and receives molten glass from the refining chamber. Additionally, the thermal conditioning chamber delivers molten glass to a glass forming machine.

Process and apparatus for glass manufacture

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 submerged combustion melter and system are disclosed. The submerged combustion melter includes a bottom wall, at least one side wall extending upwardly from the bottom wall, a crown extending inwardly with respect to the at least one side wall and over the bottom wall to establish a melting chamber, an exhaust port configured to exhaust gas from the melting chamber, at least one baffle extending from the at least one side wall to divide the melting chamber into melting sub-chambers that share the exhaust port, at least one inlet configured for introducing a glass batch into the submerged combustion melter, and at least one outlet configured to remove molten glass from the at least one melting chamber.

A method of fining low-density submerged combustion glass is disclosed. The method involves introducing unfined molten glass produced in a submerged combustion melter into a fining chamber of a downstream fining tank. Additionally, additive particles are also introduced into the fining chamber to release one or more fining agents into the molten glass bath contained in the fining chamber to accelerate the removal of bubbles from the molten glass bath. The fining of the molten glass bath as assisted by the one or more fining agents allows for fined glass to be discharged from the fining tank that has fewer bubbles and a greater density than that of the unfined molten glass introduced into the fining tank. Additive particles that include a physical mixture of a glass reactant material and the fining agent(s) are also disclosed.

A feed assembly for a melting chamber having a plurality of walls and at least one submerged burner, and related methods of its operation are disclosed. The feed assembly includes a tubular body being hollow and having a first end and extending to a second end. The second end is for connecting to one of the plurality of walls. The tubular body further includes a port proximate the second end wherein the port has a first port end and tapers radially inwardly to a second port end at the second end. The feed assembly also has a batch charger disposed within the tubular body and having a first charger end and extending to a second charger end.

Batch charger for a melting chamber

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.

Growing community of inventors

Ypsilanti, MI, United States of America

Zhongming Wang