The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 25, 2020
Filed:
Jun. 07, 2017
Guardian Glass, Llc, Auburn Hills, MI (US);
Alexey Krasnov, Canton, MI (US);
Xuequn Hu, Northville, MI (US);
Robert Broadwater, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Greg Gaudet, Ann Arbor, MI (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method and/or system is provided for detecting inclusions (e.g., nickel sulfide based inclusions/defects) in soda-lime-silica based glass, such as float glass. In certain example instances, during and/or after the glass-making process, following the stage in the float process where the glass sheet is formed and floated on a molten material (e.g., tin bath) and cooled or allowed to cool such as via an annealing lehr, visible light from an intense visible light source(s) is directed at the resulting glass and thermal imaging is used to detect inclusions based on a temperature difference between the inclusions and surrounding float glass. In another example embodiment, inclusion detection may be performed without exposure of the glass to light from a light source(s). Inclusions and surrounding glass may cool at different rates and be at different temperatures just prior to and/or after an annealing lehr, and a difference in residual temperature between inclusions and surrounding glass may be detected via thermal imaging and identified to identify inclusion(s).