Process and horseshoe flame furnance for the melting of glass

US5779754A · kind A · utility

Assignees

• L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme Pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude · FR
• Verrerie Cristallerie D'Arques, J. G. Durand et Cie · FR

Inventors

• Pierre Bodelin · Vanves, FR
• Patrick Recourt · Marcoussis, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 8, 1996
• Grant date: Jul 14, 1998
• Expiry date: Jul 8, 2016

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P40/50
• WIPO field: Other special machines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

A process for melting glass in a horseshoe-flame furnace including a rear, a forward and a lateral wall and a longitudinal axis comprising the steps of: introducing a charge into a region of the rear wall of the furnace; running the charge, in succession in a longitudinal direction, through a melting zone to completely melt the charge and form a glass bath, through a homogenization zone and then through a refining zone; evacuating the melted and refined glass into a region of the forward wall of the furnace; sending an air-fuel flame from a first region in the rear wall which is staggered with respect to the longitudinal axis of the furnace, evacuating smoke from a second region of that same rear wall essentially symmetrically to the first region with respect to the axis; periodically alternating the first and second regions; and sending at least one oxidized fuel flame above the refining zone from a point on the lateral wail adjacent to the second region which is situated opposite the refining zone.