Ceramics-Silikáty 58 (3) 202-209 (2014)

Industrial opportunities of controlled melt flow during glass melting

Part 2: Potential applications

A review of the recent results and applications of controlled melt flow in the glass melting spaces [1] leads to the idea of helical flow as the most efficient way of melt flow through the continuous glass melting space. The results of mathematical modelling provide conditions under which the character of the melt flow can be set up and quantity space utilization is used for the quantitative evaluation. We designed a melting device (module) without a batch blanket and with a controlled melt flow that performs both homogenization processes in parallel, substantially increases the melting performance and reduces the total energy consumption. We also delivered an overview of non-traditional melting techniques and discussed possibilities for implementing the module in real technology. The concept of the implementation of the controlled melt flow into spaces with a batch blanket and the preliminary results of the mathematical modelling are presented as well.

Keywords: Glass melting, Controlled flow, Space utilization, Homogenization processess