Some Innovative Techniques in the Glass Industry

A. Heat Treatment Lehrs & In-Line Exhaust Machines. Virtually all manufactured Glass material has to be heat treated to remove structural tensions within the glass. Good examples of this are container Lehrs for bottles and containers of all types. Specialist versions of such glass treatment Lehrs include T.V. screen processing. New simple techniques and control functions will be demonstrated where electrical heating on 2 T.V. In-Line Exhaust Machines have been replaced by direct gas firing with multi-purpose burner systems which cater for all control requirements and reduce energy costs. B. New Firing Techniques on Specialist Applications The availability of new materials has enabled new burner concepts to be developed. Gas fired Ceramic Fibre Matrix Burners have been successfully applied to a wide range of applications since their introduction. A novel and innovative extension of these Ceramic Fibre Matrix Burners has been their application to a continuous production Conveyor Oven treating/processing fluorescent tube internal coatings. Comparisons between previous techniques and the advantages of the ceramic fibre burners will be discussed. C. Regenerative Burner Systems on Glass Tanks The use of the Regenera.ti ve Burner Systems is now growing rapidly in Europe with successful utilisation on such versions as Steel Processing Applications, Aluminum Melting and Holding Furnaces and Ladle Heating. Energy savings are dramatic with combustion air preheat temperatures being achieved far in excess of any other economic heat recovery system. The applications of Regenerative Burners to Glass Tanks poses different problems and such an application will be discussed illustrating the potential savings and operating conditions which have to be considered.