JP6032201B2 - Glass melting furnace, molten glass manufacturing method, glass article manufacturing method, and glass article manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a glass melting furnace, a method for manufacturing molten glass, a method for manufacturing glass articles, and a device for manufacturing glass articles.

  Currently, Siemens that melts glass raw materials in a glass melting furnace (hereinafter also simply referred to as a “melting furnace”) is used for many mass-produced glasses ranging from plate glass, bottle glass, and fiberglass to display glass. Produced on the basis of a Siemens type furnace. In the melting method using a Siemens-type melting furnace, a mixture of powdered glass raw materials is charged on the surface of the glass melt previously melted in the melting furnace, and is a lump (hereinafter also referred to as “batch”). Is heated with a burner or the like to cause melting to proceed from the surface to gradually form a glass melt. At this time, since the batch on the melt melts sequentially from the material that easily reacts or melts, a hardly fusible material is easily formed in the raw material layer. For the same reason, in the initial state of melt formation, a glass melt having a composition different from that of the batch is generated locally, and the melt is likely to be non-uniform. Furthermore, since the Siemens type melting furnace requires a large amount of energy, it is desired to reduce the energy consumption of the melting furnace. Recently, the demand for high-quality, high-value-added glass articles as glass plates for display devices is increasing, and energy consumption is also increasing, so the development of energy-saving technologies for the production of glass articles is important and urgent. It is considered as an issue.

Against this background, as an example of energy-saving glass manufacturing technology, fine particles (granulated bodies) made of a mixture of glass raw materials are heated and melted in a high-temperature gas phase atmosphere to form molten glass particles, and then molten glass particles Have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). Hereinafter, this molten glass manufacturing method will be referred to as an in-flight glass melting method. According to this in-flight melting method, it is said that the energy consumed in the glass melting process can be reduced to about 1/3 compared to the conventional Siemens-type melting furnace. Therefore, it has been attracting attention as a technology that can reduce the size of the melting furnace, omit the heat storage chamber, improve the quality, reduce CO ₂ , and shorten the time for changing the glass type.

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the melting furnace described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. Melting furnace 100 of Patent Document 1, as the heating means for forming a high-temperature gas-phase atmosphere K _100, and includes a plurality of arc electrode 102 and the oxygen combustion nozzle 103. A high-temperature gas phase atmosphere K ₁₀₀ of about 1600 ° C. or higher is formed in the furnace body 101 by a thermal plasma arc formed by the plurality of arc electrodes 102 or an oxyfuel flame (frame) F ₁₀₀ by the oxyfuel nozzle 103. During this high-temperature gas-phase atmosphere _{K 100,} by placing the glass raw material particles _{R 100,} a glass raw material particles _{R 100} liquid glass particles _{U 100} (hereinafter in the high-temperature gas-phase atmosphere _{K 100} "molten glass particles" both Change. Liquid glass particles _{U 100} accumulates the furnace bottom portion 101A of the furnace body 101 to fall, the glass melt _{G 100.}

When an oxygen burner is used as a heating means in the air melting method, as shown in FIG. 10, glass raw material particles are introduced into a combustion flame of an oxygen burner, and liquid glass particles are formed in the flame. Therefore, an oxygen burner having a raw material supply path for supplying glass raw material particles and a gas supply path for supplying combustion gas and fuel gas, respectively, is used.
For example, the melting furnace described in Patent Document 2 includes an oxygen burner attached downward to the ceiling wall of the melting furnace, and a gas supply for supplying a combustion-supporting gas containing oxygen and a fuel gas to the oxygen burner. The system and a raw material supply system for supplying glass raw material particles are connected. In this melting furnace, an oxygen burner is burned to form a downward flame, and glass raw material particles are supplied downward from the oxygen burner into the flame to produce liquid glass particles. Glass melt is formed by accumulating at the bottom of the furnace directly under the flame.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2007-297239 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-290921

  As described above, the conventional oxygen burner used in the air melting method is integrally provided with a raw material discharge port and a fuel gas or combustion gas discharge port at the tip of the burner. Such a burner has the merit that it is easy to use since the melting means and the supply means of the material to be melted are integrated, and the space of the entire apparatus can be reduced, as the powder can be introduced into the flame as well as the formation of the flame. Generally used. However, when the present inventors conducted research on the glass in-air melting method using the burner having such a configuration, fine glass raw material particles having a diameter of several μm to several tens of μm are used as the raw material at the tip of the burner. It was found that it stays partially near the discharge port and easily adheres to the tip of the burner. In addition, if the glass raw material particles and the scattered and volatile substances from the glass adhere to the tip of the burner and gradually increase in size and become icicles, the flame becomes unstable and the discharge port through which the glass raw material particles pass The problem of gradually becoming occluded became clear. If such icicles are formed at the tip of the burner, not only will the above-mentioned flame become unstable and the outlet will be blocked, but the enlarged icicles will fall into the glass melt below the burner. There is a case. As a result, due to the compositional difference between the fallen icicle and the glass melt, the manufactured molten glass and the glass article become inhomogeneous, and the quality of the glass article may be deteriorated.

Further, since the air melting method is usually performed for a long period of continuous operation, the burner is also continuously used for a long period of time. When glass raw material particles adhere to the tip of the burner to form icicles, it is necessary to stop the burner and clean or replace the burner. It is important to develop a technique in which icicle-like deposits are not formed.
Further, the small particle size of the glass raw material particles may cause dust and icicles in the glass melting furnace. The glass raw material particles should have a large particle diameter within a range in which the glass raw material particles can be melted in a high-temperature gas phase atmosphere. On the other hand, in the case of a fuel burner provided integrally with a conventional raw material supply path for supplying glass raw material particles and a gas supply path for supplying combustion gas and fuel gas, the particle diameter of the glass raw material particles is limited due to its structure. The For this reason, a method in which the particle diameter of the glass raw material particles is not limited is desired.

From the background as described above, the present invention aims to provide a glass melting furnace and a method for producing molten glass, which can suppress the adhesion of the glass raw material to the tip of the burner and have few restrictions on the size of the glass raw material particles. .
Moreover, this invention aims at provision of the manufacturing method of the glass article using the manufacturing method of the above-mentioned molten glass.
Furthermore, this invention aims at provision of the manufacturing apparatus of the glass article provided with the above-mentioned glass melting furnace.

The present invention is provided with a furnace body that contains molten glass, a raw material particle introduction part that is disposed at an upper part of the furnace body, and that introduces glass raw material particles into the furnace body, and is separated from the raw material particle introduction part. It is and example Bei and a combustion burner to form a heated vapor phase atmosphere for the molten glass particles by heating and melting the glass raw material particles below the raw material particles feeding section, the raw material particles introduced section, raw material Provided is a glass melting furnace comprising a particle input tube and a gas supply tube disposed around the raw material particle input tube .
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, it is preferable that the front end portion of the combustion burner is separated from the charging port of the raw material particle charging unit at least in the horizontal direction and is provided separately.
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, it is preferable that the tip of the combustion burner is installed downward around the inlet of the raw material particle inlet.
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, the glass raw material particles have raw material particle preheating means for preheating the glass raw material particles before entering the raw material particle charging portion and at least one of the raw material particle charging portions. preferable.

In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, a plurality of the combustion burners are provided, and the front ends of the plurality of combustion burners are around the inlet of the raw material particle charging portion and on the circumference centering on the raw material particle charging portion. It may be arranged.
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, the raw material particle charging part may further include a glass cullet charging part for charging a cullet piece at a position different from the charging position of the glass raw material particles.
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, it is preferable that the gas supply pipe is a gas supply pipe that blows gas to the outer periphery of the tip of the raw material particle charging pipe.
In the glass melting furnace of the present invention, the angle α formed by the combustion flame of the combustion burner by the combustion burner with respect to the vertically downward raw material particle input shaft at the raw material particle input portion is 0 ° ≦ α ≦ 45 °. It is preferable that it is installed to be.

According to the present invention, a heated gas phase atmosphere is formed by a combustion flame of a combustion burner, and a raw material particle charging unit provided separately from the combustion burner above the heated gas phase atmosphere is matched to the target glass composition. By sending the glass raw material particles mixed with the raw material powder into the heated gas phase atmosphere, when the glass raw material particles are melted into molten glass particles , the raw material particle introducing tube and the periphery of the raw material particle introducing tube Provided is a method for producing molten glass, in which the glass raw material particles are fed into the heated gas phase atmosphere from the raw material particle charging portion provided with a gas supply pipe arranged .
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, the glass raw material particles are provided as the raw material particles by providing an inlet of the raw material particle introducing portion at least horizontally apart from the tip of the combustion burner and separately. It is preferable to come into contact with the combustion flame away from the charging port of the charging unit.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, the glass raw material particles preferably have a weight average particle size in the range of 30 to 1000 μm.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, it is preferable to preheat the glass raw material particles before sending the glass raw material particles to the heated gas phase atmosphere.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, the glass raw material particles preferably have a weight average particle size in the range of 50 to 3000 μm.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, even if a combustion flame is ejected from the tip of the combustion burner arranged on the circumference around the inlet, around the inlet of the raw material particle inlet. Good.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, a glass cullet piece may be charged from a part of the raw material particle charging part at a position different from the charging position of the glass raw material particles.
In the method for producing a molten glass of the present invention, the gas downward by the gas supply pipe from the outer periphery of the tip of the raw material particles feeding pipe may be ejected.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, the combustion burner is configured such that the angle α formed by the combustion flame with respect to the vertically downward raw material particle input shaft in the raw material particle input portion is 0 ° ≦ α ≦ 45 °. It is preferable to eject the combustion flame downward from the bottom.

The present invention includes a step of producing a molten glass using the method for producing a molten glass according to any one of the above, a step of forming the molten glass, and a step of gradually cooling the glass after forming. A method for manufacturing an article is provided.
The present invention provides a glass article comprising: the glass melting furnace according to any one of the above; a forming means for forming the molten glass produced by the glass melting furnace; and a slow cooling means for gradually cooling the glass after forming. Providing manufacturing equipment.
This invention provides the manufacturing method of the glass bead including the process of manufacturing a molten glass using the manufacturing method of the molten glass in any one of the above, and the process of cooling this molten glass.

The glass melting furnace of the present invention comprises a raw material particle charging part for charging glass raw material particles and a combustion burner for forming a heated gas phase atmosphere for heating and melting glass raw material particles separately, It can suppress that glass raw material particle | grains, molten glass particle | grains, etc. adhere to a burner front-end | tip part. Moreover, since the glass melting furnace of this invention has the restrictions of the particle diameter of glass raw material particle | grains, the dust in a glass melting furnace can be suppressed by using glass raw material particle | grains more than predetermined particle diameter.
In the method for producing molten glass of the present invention, a heated gas phase atmosphere is formed by a combustion flame of a combustion burner, and glass raw material particles are charged into the heated gas phase atmosphere from a raw material particle charging portion provided separately from the combustion burner. Thus, the glass raw material particles are heated and melted to form molten glass particles. Therefore, glass raw material particles, molten glass particles, etc. can be prevented from adhering to the tip of the burner to enlarge, and the fall of the enlarged adhering matter to the glass melt can be suppressed, and a glass having a predetermined particle diameter or more can be prevented. Since dust in the glass melting furnace can be suppressed by using the raw material particles, a homogeneous molten glass can be produced.
Moreover, the manufacturing method of the glass article of this invention can provide a homogeneous and high-quality glass article by using the manufacturing method of the above-mentioned molten glass.
Furthermore, the apparatus for producing a glass article of the present invention can produce a homogeneous and high-quality glass article by including the glass melting furnace described above.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a first embodiment of a glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a first example of a raw material particle charging portion provided in the glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a second example of the raw material particle charging portion provided in the glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner and the raw material particle charging section in the glass melting furnace shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a second example of the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner and the raw material particle charging portion in the glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a third example of the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner in the glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a fourth example of the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner in the glass melting furnace according to the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for producing a glass article using the method for producing molten glass according to the present invention. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an apparatus for producing glass beads by carrying out the method for producing molten glass according to the present invention. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the glass melting furnace described in Patent Document 1.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a glass melting furnace, a manufacturing method of molten glass, a manufacturing method of glass beads, a manufacturing method of a glass article, and a manufacturing apparatus of a glass article according to the present invention will be described. It is not limited.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a first embodiment of a glass melting furnace according to the present invention. The glass melting furnace shown in FIG. 1 is used in the method for manufacturing molten glass and the method for manufacturing glass articles according to the present invention.

A glass melting furnace 10 according to this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus that heats and melts glass raw material particles GM made of a mixture of glass raw materials into a molten glass particle U in a heated gas phase atmosphere K in the furnace body 1. is there.
In the present invention, the glass raw material particle GM means a granular raw material powder of each component of the target glass or a granulated body obtained by mixing and mixing these raw material powders in accordance with the composition of the final target glass. Alternatively, the raw material powder and the granulated body are mixed. Moreover, these may also contain a glass cullet piece as a glass raw material. The particle diameter of the glass raw material particles of the present invention can be made larger than that used in conventional air-melting burners. Thereby, since the glass raw material particle GM which soars with the air flow in the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10 can be reduced, dust can be suppressed. An example of the glass raw material particles GM is enlarged and shown in FIG. 1, but in one glass raw material particle GM, which is a granulated body obtained by mixing raw material powders, approximates the composition of the final target glass. The composition may be as follows. The details of the glass raw material particles GM will be described later.

  Basically, the air melting method is a method for producing a glass by melting a granulated body in order to produce a glass composed of a plurality of components (usually 3 or more components). Is not limited to a granulated body as described above, and may not be granulated. The glass raw material particles GM are heated and decomposed in a heated gas phase atmosphere K (for example, thermal decomposition of metal carbonate to metal oxide), reaction and melting of a component that becomes glass called vitrification reaction, It becomes liquid glass particles (molten glass particles U) by a chemical reaction. The glass raw material particles GM charged in the furnace body 1 are melted into the molten glass particles U while passing through the high-temperature heated gas phase atmosphere K, and the molten glass particles U fall downward and enter the furnace body 1. The molten glass G is formed by accumulating at the bottom of the glass. When the glass raw material particles GM are made of a granulated body, each of the grains is melted to form the molten glass particles U, but the granulated body falls on the molten glass G without completing the melting. There may be some things. In addition, some of the granulated bodies may be broken before the granulated bodies become the molten glass particles U.

A glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a hollow box-type furnace body 1 and a raw material particle introduction section for injecting glass raw material particles GM installed downward on a furnace wall portion 1A on the top of the furnace body 1 downward. 5 and through the furnace wall 1A at the top of the furnace body 1 in order to form the oxyfuel flame F toward the lower side of the raw material particle charging part 5 A plurality of oxygen combustion burners 7 (two in the example shown in FIG. 1) installed obliquely downward around the raw material particle charging unit 5 and a storage unit 1B for molten glass G formed at the bottom of the furnace body 1 Prepare. The positional relationship between the outlet of the raw material particle charging unit 5 and the outlet of the oxygen burner 7 is such that the minimum horizontal distance between the outer peripheral parts of these outlets is 1 cm or more or 10% of the maximum outer diameter of the oxygen burner 7. Any one of the above values is preferable. In addition, the positional relationship between the raw material particle charging portion 5 and the oxygen burner 7 is that the minimum horizontal distance between the outer peripheral portions of the jet outlets is 3 cm or more or 20% or more of the maximum outer diameter of the oxygen burner 7. A larger value is more preferable. Furthermore, the positional relationship between the raw material particle charging part 5 and the oxygen burner 7 is such that the minimum horizontal distance between the outer peripheral parts of these jet outlets is 5 cm or more or 30% or more of the maximum outer diameter of the oxygen burner 7. More preferably, the value is large. Here, the oxygen burner 7 may have a water cooling tube for cooling the oxygen burner itself on the outer periphery of the oxygen burner. The maximum outer diameter of the oxygen burner outlet in this case refers to the maximum outer diameter including the water-cooled pipe. Hereinafter, the outlet of the raw material particle inlet 5 is referred to as the inlet 5A, and the outlet of the oxygen burner 7 is referred to as the tip 7A.
The oxyfuel combustion burner 7 can form a heated gas-phase atmosphere K at the front end side in the injection direction of the combustion flame (lower side in FIG. 1). The heated gas-phase atmosphere K is composed of an oxyfuel flame F injected from the oxyfuel burner 7 and a high-temperature portion near the oxyfuel flame F.
In the glass melting furnace having such a configuration, a heated gas phase atmosphere is formed by a combustion flame of a combustion burner, and a target particle input unit provided separately from the combustion burner is provided above the heated gas phase atmosphere, By sending the glass raw material particles mixed with the raw material powder in accordance with the composition of the glass into the heated gas phase atmosphere, the glass raw material particles can be melted to obtain molten glass particles to obtain molten glass.

  In the present invention, the upper part of the furnace body 1 means a range including the upper part of the furnace wall 1A and the side wall 1C of the furnace body 1. In addition, the shape of the furnace body 1 is not limited to the box-shaped rectangular parallelepiped shape shown in FIG. 1, and may be configured in a cylindrical shape. Moreover, although the raw material particle | grain injection | throwing-in part 5 is installed in the perpendicular direction downward, not only this but it may install incline if it is downward. Furthermore, although the furnace wall portion 1A of the furnace body 1 has a flat shape, the shape is not limited to this, and may be a shape such as an arch shape or a dome shape.

  The bottom side of the furnace body 1 is a storage part 1B for the molten glass G, and the molten glass G can be discharged from the furnace body 1 through the discharge port 4 formed on the bottom side of the side wall 1C of the furnace body 1. It is configured as follows. In addition, the manufacturing apparatus of the glass article provided with the glass melting furnace 10 of this embodiment is connected to the downstream side in the direction in which the molten glass G is discharged from the furnace body 1. The glass G is formed into a target shape by the forming apparatus 20 so that a glass article can be obtained. Depending on the foam quality, a vacuum degassing apparatus may be provided in front of the molding apparatus 20.

  The furnace body 1 is made of a refractory material such as a refractory brick and is configured to store a high-temperature molten glass G. Although not shown, the heater 1 is installed in the storage unit 1B of the furnace body 1, and the molten glass G stored in the storage unit 1B is held in a molten state at a target temperature (for example, about 1400 ° C.) as necessary. It is configured to be able to. An exhaust gas treatment device 3 is connected to a side wall portion 1C of the furnace body 1 through an exhaust port 2 and an exhaust pipe 2a.

  The raw material particle charging unit 5 is provided with a cylindrical raw material particle charging tube, and a raw material supplier 8 comprising a hopper containing glass raw material particles GM via a supply tube 9 on the upper side of the raw material particle charging unit 5. Connected to the supply pipe 9 is a carrier gas supply source (not shown) that supplies a carrier gas for conveying the glass raw material particles GM to the raw material particle input pipe of the raw material particle input unit 5. As a result, the glass raw material particles GM are dropped from the charging port 5A formed at the lower end of the raw material particle charging unit 5. Although the case where the carrier gas is supplied is described here, a method of dropping the glass raw material particles GM freely by mechanical means into the heated gas phase atmosphere K without using the carrier gas may be used.

Moreover, in this invention, when enlarging the particle diameter of the glass raw material particle GM, in order to melt the glass raw material particle GM, the energy given by the heating gaseous-phase atmosphere K becomes large. In the present invention, the raw material particle charging unit 5 is provided with raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 for heating the glass raw material particles GM in advance, and the glass raw material particles are preheated before the glass raw material particles are sent to the heating gas phase atmosphere. Is preferred. Thus, by providing the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 for heating the glass raw material particles GM in advance, the energy given to the glass raw material particles GM in the heated gas phase atmosphere K can be reduced. The heating by the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 is not for melting the glass raw material particles GM. Since the structure of the raw material particle charging unit 5 is simple, it is easy to install the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61, and in particular, the effect of the raw material particle preheating means 60 provided in the raw material particle charging pipe of the raw material particle charging part 5. Is expensive. In addition, the provision of the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 provides the glass raw material particles GM in the heated gas phase atmosphere K because the glass cullet pieces can be preheated when the glass raw material particles GM include the glass cullet pieces. There is an effect that energy can be reduced. Furthermore, the fact that the particle diameter of the glass raw material particles GM can be made larger than before has a great effect on the suppression of dust in the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10. Even when the glass raw material particles GM are relatively small, preheating before being put into the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10 has an energy saving effect.
Furthermore, in this invention, since it has the raw material particle | grain injection | throwing-in part 5 separately from the oxygen burner 7, various gas can be ejected without being influenced by the combustion conditions of the oxygen burner 7. Thereby, for example, there is an effect that the components of the atmosphere in the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10 can be easily adjusted at the initial stage of glass melting.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a first example of the raw material particle input unit 5, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a second example of the raw material particle input unit 5.
The raw material particle charging unit 5 shown in FIG. 2 has a single tube structure composed of a cylindrical raw material particle charging tube 51. In this invention, since such a simple structure can be employ | adopted, the freedom degree of the particle diameter of the glass raw material particle GM is high, and the tolerance | permissible_range of the dispersion | variation in particle diameter can be widened. For this reason, as described above, glass cullet pieces may be included in the glass raw material particles GM or the like, and variations in the particle size of the glass cullet pieces may exist under certain conditions. Note that the size of the glass cullet piece is determined according to the output of the oxyfuel burner 7 up to the size that can be melted in the heated gas phase atmosphere K. Examples of the material of the raw material particle inlet tube 51 include metal and ceramics. The raw material particle input pipe 51 may have a water cooling structure. The raw material particle charging unit 5 provided in the glass melting furnace 10 of the present embodiment may have a single tube structure composed of the raw material particle charging pipe 51 as shown in FIG. 2, but has the structure shown in FIG. Is preferred.

  A raw material particle charging unit 50 shown in FIG. 3 includes a raw material particle charging tube 51 as a center, and a cylindrical gas supply tube 52 disposed concentrically with the raw material particle charging tube 51 outside the raw material particle charging tube 51. It has a double-pipe structure. The material of the gas supply pipe 52 can be exemplified by the same material as that of the raw material particle input pipe 51 described above. A gas supply device (not shown) is connected to the gas supply pipe 52. The raw material particle input unit 50 in this example drops glass raw material particles GM from the raw material particle input pipe 51 into the furnace body 1 and supplies gas such as air and oxygen as well as inert gas such as nitrogen and argon. The pipe 52 can be ejected downward so as to surround the inlet 5A of the raw material particle inlet 50. In addition, the said gas excludes combustion gas. As a result, gas can be blown from the gas supply pipe 52 to the outer periphery of the tip of the raw material particle introduction pipe 51. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the glass raw material particles GM to adhere to the charging port 5A of the raw material particle charging unit 50. That is, it becomes difficult for the glass raw material particles GM to adhere to the outer periphery of the jet outlet of the raw material particle input pipe 51 and the jet outlet of the gas supply pipe 52. Therefore, the material particle charging unit 50 does not cause the glass material particle GM to be enlarged, and icicles are not generated. It has the effect of cooling the inlet pipe and the effect of preventing condensation by blocking from the humid atmosphere. The gas blown from the gas supply pipe 52 may be heated by exchange with heat generated from the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10.

The raw material particle preheating means 60 of the raw material particle charging portions 5 and 50 includes, for example, a method of induction heating the raw material particle charging pipe 51, a method of heating with a radiant heater, a method of heating with an electric heater, and the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10. There is a method of using the heat generated in the. As shown in FIG. 1, the raw material particle preheating means 60 may be provided on the outer side of the raw material particle input unit 5, or may be provided on the inner side of the raw material particle input pipe 51 of the raw material particle input unit 5. . In the present invention, since the raw material particle charging part 5 is provided separately from the oxygen burner 7, the raw material particle charging part 5 has a degree of freedom, and the raw material particle preheating means 60 is provided outside or inside the raw material particle charging part 5. Can do. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, there is a method of preheating by providing a heating region in front of the raw material particle introducing pipe 51 such as providing a raw material particle preheating means 61 in the middle of the supply pipe 9. Further, the raw material particle preheating means may be provided both in the raw material particle charging section 5 and in the middle of the supply pipe 9 as the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 shown in FIG.
The glass raw material particles GM need to be dried after granulation, particularly in the case of a granulated body by a dry granulation method such as a tumbling granulation method or a stirring granulation method, not the spray dry granulation method described later. . Therefore, in the case where the glass raw material particles GM are granulated by a dry granulation method, the raw material particles are preliminarily dried by the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 before being put into the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10, It is preferable to put into the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10 with a lower moisture content. When the glass raw material particles GM are particularly large, the raw material particle preheating means 61 is more suitable.

The oxyfuel burner 7 is an oxyfuel burner known as an oxyfuel burner, in which a fuel and oxygen supply nozzle are appropriately arranged. A fuel supply device (not shown) for supplying fuel to the fuel supply nozzle and a gas supply device (not shown) for supplying combustion gas containing oxygen to the combustion gas supply nozzle are connected to the oxyfuel burner 7.
The temperature of the oxygen combustion flame F of the oxygen combustion burner 7 is 1600 which is equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the silica sand of the glass raw material in order to rapidly gasify and dissipate the gas components contained in the glass raw material particles GM and advance the vitrification reaction. It is preferable to set the temperature to be equal to or higher. As a result, the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the raw material particle dropping portion 5 into the furnace body 1 are rapidly gasified and dissipated by the heated gas phase atmosphere K formed by the oxyfuel flame F and heated at a high temperature. By doing so, it becomes the molten glass particles U, and reaches the bottom of the furnace body 1 to become the molten glass G.
The temperature at the center of the heated gas-phase atmosphere K formed by the oxyfuel flame F injected from the oxyfuel burner 7 is about 2000 to 3000 ° C. when the oxyfuel flame F is, for example, a hydrogen oxyfuel flame.

  It is preferable that a plurality of tip portions 7 </ b> A of the oxyfuel burner 7 are arranged around the charging port 5 </ b> A of the raw material particle charging unit 5. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the tip portions 7A of the two oxygen combustion burners 7 and 7 are obliquely downwardly symmetrically sandwiched between the furnace wall portion 1A of the upper portion of the furnace body 1 and the inlet 5A of the raw material particle inlet 5. Further, inwardly, specifically, the front end portion 7A of the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 and the input port 5A of the raw material particle input portion 5 are arranged in a straight line with a predetermined interval. In this way, by arranging the tip portions 7A of the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 symmetrically about the input port 5A of the raw material particle input portion 5, the heating formed by the oxyfuel flame F of the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 is arranged. The gas phase atmosphere K can be formed with good symmetry, and the glass raw material particles GM charged from the raw material particle charging unit 5 can be heated uniformly.

4 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 and the raw material particle charging section 5 in the glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 shows the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 and the raw material in the glass melting furnace 10. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a second example of the arrangement of the particle input unit 5.
As shown in FIG. 4, the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 are directed to the injection direction of the oxyfuel flame F with respect to the input shaft (indicated by symbol A in FIG. 4) of the glass raw material particles GM by the raw material particle input portion 5. It is preferable that the angle α (indicated by the symbol B in FIG. 4) is inclined so that 0 degrees ≦ α ≦ 45 degrees. That is, the oxygen combustion burners 7 and 7 have an angle α formed by the oxygen combustion flame F with respect to the vertically downward raw material particle input axis A in the raw material particle input unit 5 so that 0 degree ≦ α ≦ 45 degrees. It is preferable that it is installed. Here, the input axis A of the glass raw material particles GM indicates the central axis of the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the raw material particle input portion 5. The injection direction B of the oxyfuel flame F indicates the central axis of the oxyfuel flame F injected from the oxyfuel burner 7. By installing the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 at an angle α in such a range, the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 are directed toward the input axis A of the glass raw material particles GM that is the vertical axis. The oxycombustion flames F and F can be sprayed underneath. Thereby, the glass raw material particles GM falling along the input axis A from the input port 5A of the raw material particle input unit 5 can efficiently pass through the heated gas phase atmosphere K formed by the oxyfuel combustion flames F and F.

  Here, the horizontal distance between the center of the tip 7A of the oxyfuel burner 7 and the center of the inlet 5A of the raw material particle charging portion 5 is the heating air formed by the oxyfuel flame F by the falling glass raw material particles GM. It is appropriately set according to the purpose of efficiently passing the phase atmosphere K and the ability of the oxyfuel burner 7. For example, when the drop height d of the glass raw material particles GM (the distance from the inlet 5A of the raw material particle inlet 5 to the contact point of the oxyfuel flames F and F) is 0.2 to 0.7 m, oxyfuel combustion The burner 7 is preferably installed with an angle of 10 degrees ≦ α ≦ 30 degrees with respect to the input axis A. Thereby, the contact time of the oxyfuel flame F and the glass raw material particles GM by the oxyfuel burner 7 can be made longer, and the glass raw material particles GM can be heated and melted more efficiently to form molten glass particles U. Can do. The contact point of the oxygen combustion flames F and F is the upper end position of the region where the gas temperature measured by thermography (for example, Vario THERMO InSb, manufactured by Jenoptik Co., Ltd.) exceeds 1700 ° C. in the heated gas phase atmosphere K.

  Further, when the drop height d of the glass raw material particles GM is 0.2 to 0.7 m, the glass raw material particles GM are dropped from the charging axis A of the raw material particle charging portion 5 and the inlet 5A of the raw material particle charging portion 5. It is preferable to set the angle β formed by the diffusion axis of the glass raw material particles GM to be formed (indicated by symbol C in FIG. 4) in a range of 0 ° ≦ β ≦ 15 °. Thereby, the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the inlet 5A of the raw material particle dropping portion 5 can be effectively dispersed in the oxyfuel combustion flame F by the oxyfuel combustion burner 7, and the glass raw material particles GM are efficiently heated and melted. The molten glass particles U can be obtained. Here, the diffusion axis C of the glass raw material particles GM indicates a line that traces the outer edge of the range in which the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the raw material particle charging portion 5 spread.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 may be installed vertically downward (angle α = 0 degree) and substantially parallel to the raw material particle charging unit 5. In this case, depending on the horizontal distance between the center of the tip portion 7A of the oxyfuel burner 7 and the center of the inlet 5A of the raw material particle input portion 5 and the ability of the oxyfuel burner 7, the glass raw material by the raw material particle input portion 5 is used. It is necessary to adjust the angle β formed between the input axis A of the particles GM and the diffusion axis C of the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the input port 5A of the raw material input unit 5. As shown in FIG. 5, when the oxyfuel burners 7 and 7 are installed vertically downward, for example, when the drop height d of the glass raw material particles GM is 0.2 to 0.7 m, the angle β is set to 0. It is preferable to set in the range of degrees ≦ β ≦ 15 degrees. Thereby, the glass raw material particles GM dropped from the inlet 5A of the raw material particle dropping portion 5 can be effectively dispersed in the oxyfuel combustion flame F by the oxyfuel combustion burner 7, and the glass raw material particles GM are efficiently heated and melted. The molten glass particles U can be obtained.

The number of installed oxyfuel burners 7 in the glass melting furnace 10 of the present embodiment is not limited to two, and it is also preferably three or more.
6 is a schematic view showing a third example of the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner 7 in the glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 shows the arrangement of the oxyfuel burner 7 in the glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the 4th example of. 6 and 7, in order to make the arrangement of the oxyfuel combustion burner 7 easier to understand, the oxyfuel combustion burner 7, the oxyfuel combustion flame F, The mode of the glass raw material particle GM dropped from the raw material particle injection part 5 is shown typically.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, three oxyfuel combustion burners 7 are arranged around the raw material particle charging unit 5 and at a regular interval on the circumference centering on the raw material particle charging unit 5. Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, six oxygen combustion burners 7 are disposed around the raw material particle charging unit 5 and at a regular interval on the circumference centering on the raw material particle charging unit 5. Yes. The installation angle α of each oxyfuel burner 7 shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 is the same as that shown in FIG. 4 or FIG.
In this way, the plurality of oxyfuel combustion burners 7 are arranged at equal intervals on the circumference centering on the raw material particle input portion 5, thereby heating air formed by the oxyfuel combustion flames F of the plurality of oxyfuel combustion burners 7. The symmetry of the phase atmosphere K can be further increased, and the glass raw material particles GM input from the raw material particle input unit 5 can be heated more uniformly.

  In the present invention, the number of installed oxyfuel burners 7 is not limited to the above-described two, three, and six groups, and may be any of one, four, five, seven, or more. From the viewpoint of improving the symmetry of the heated gas-phase atmosphere K formed by the oxygen combustion flame F of the burner 7, two or more oxygen combustion burners 7 are equidistantly arranged on the circumference centering on the raw material particle input portion 5. Is preferably arranged.

The glass melting furnace 10 according to the present embodiment includes a raw material particle charging unit 5 for charging glass raw material particles GM and oxygen for ejecting an oxygen combustion flame F for forming a heated gas phase atmosphere K for heating and melting the glass raw material particles GM. By separating the combustion burner 7 at least in the horizontal direction and as a separate body, the glass raw material particles can come into contact with the combustion flame away from the input port of the raw material particle input portion. By doing in this way, it can suppress that the glass raw material particle GM adheres to the front-end | tip part of the oxyfuel combustion burner 7, can eliminate the enlargement of this deposit | attachment, and can suppress formation of an icicle. Therefore, the combustion flame of the oxyfuel burner 7 does not become unstable, and the discharge port of the oxyfuel burner 7 does not become blocked. Further, since no icicles are formed, the icicles do not fall into the molten glass G below the oxyfuel burner 7, and the glass becomes inhomogeneous due to the compositional difference between the dropped icicles and the glass melt. Therefore, a high-quality molten glass G can be obtained.
Furthermore, by making the raw material particle charging part 50 have the double tube structure shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to reduce the adhesion of the glass raw material particles GM to the vicinity of the inlet 5A of the raw material particle charging part 5. It can eliminate the enlargement and prevent the formation of icicles.

  The molten glass G manufactured using the glass melting furnace 10 of the present embodiment is not limited in terms of composition as long as it is a glass manufactured by an air melting method. Therefore, any of soda lime glass, mixed alkali glass, or non-alkali glass may be used. Moreover, the use of the manufactured glass article is not limited to architectural use or vehicle use, and examples include flat panel display use and other various uses.

In the case of soda lime glass used for building or vehicle plate glass, it is expressed in terms of mass percentage on the basis of oxide, SiO ₂ : 65 to 75%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 0 to 3%, CaO: 5 to 5%. _{15%, MgO: 0~15%,} Na 2 O: 10~20%, K 2 O: 0~3%, Li 2 O: 0~5%, Fe 2 O 3: 0~3%, TiO 2: _{0~5%, CeO 2: 0~3%} , BaO: 0~5%, SrO: 0~5%, B 2 O 3: 0~5%, ZnO: 0~5%, ZrO 2: 0~5 %, SnO ₂ : 0 to 3%, SO ₃ : 0 to 0.5%.

In the case of non-alkali glass used for a substrate for a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display, SiO ₂ : 39 to 75%, Al ₂ O ₃ : _{3 to} 27%, B in terms of mass percentage based on oxide. It is preferable to have a composition of ₂ O ₃ : 0 to 20%, MgO: 0 to 13%, CaO: 0 to 17%, SrO: 0 to 20%, BaO: 0 to 30%.

In the case of mixed alkali type glass is used as the substrate for plasma display, as represented by mass percentage based on _{oxides, SiO 2: 50~75%, Al} 2 O 3: 0~15%, MgO + CaO + SrO + BaO + ZnO: 6~24 %, Na ₂ O + K ₂ O: 6 to 24%.

As other applications, in the case of borosilicate glass used for heat-resistant containers or physics and chemistry instruments, etc., it is expressed in terms of mass percentage on the basis of oxide, SiO ₂ : 60 to 85%, Al ₂ O ₃ : 0 to 5% B ₂ O ₃ : 5 to 20%, Na ₂ O + K ₂ O: 2 to 10%.

  In the present embodiment, the particulate raw material powder of each component of the glass raw material for any of the above applications, or a granulated body obtained by mixing and collecting these raw material powders according to the composition of the target glass, or A glass raw material particle GM that is either a raw material powder and a granulated material is prepared. These glass raw material particles GM may contain glass cullet pieces as a glass raw material. This is possible because, unlike a so-called powder burner for melting in the air, the raw material particle charging unit 5 and the oxyfuel burner 7 are provided separately. In addition, in a normal glass raw material, glass raw material particles and glass cullet pieces are often mixed and charged with a mixer or the like. However, in the raw material particle charging unit 5 of the present invention, it is not necessary to mix the glass raw material particles GM and the glass cullet pieces. In the raw material particle charging unit 5, the glass raw material particles GM and the glass cullet pieces are located at different positions. Can be put in. Specifically, a glass raw material particle GM input tube and a glass cullet piece input tube may be provided separately. This is because it can be charged into the heated gas phase atmosphere K by allowing it to fall freely from a cylindrical raw material particle charging portion 5 such as the raw material particle charging tube 51. This does not require the glass raw material particles GM and the glass cullet pieces to be mixed with a mixer or the like, and therefore has an effect that the glass raw material particles GM are not further shredded. Particularly in the case of a granulated body, since the granulated body is not broken by mixing and becomes a fine powder, there is a further effect.

Below, the case where the glass raw material particle GM is a granulated body is demonstrated. For example, when an example of an alkali-free glass is applied as an example when the glass raw material particle GM is a granulated body, silica sand, alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ), boric acid (H ₃ BO ₃ ), magnesium hydroxide (Mg) (OH) ₂ ), calcium carbonate (CaCO ₃ ), strontium carbonate (SrCO ₃ ), raw material powders such as barium carbonate (BaCO ₃ ) are prepared so as to match the composition of the target glass, for example, spray drying granulation method The glass raw material particles GM can be obtained as a granulated material having a weight average particle size of 30 to 1000 μm.

  As a method of preparing the glass raw material particles GM as a granulated body from the raw material powder, a method such as spray dry granulation can be used, and an aqueous solution in which the raw material powder is dispersed and dissolved is sprayed in a high temperature atmosphere and dried and solidified. A granulation method is preferred. Further, this granulated body may be composed only of raw materials having a mixing ratio corresponding to the target glass component composition, but the granulated body is further mixed with glass cullet powder having the same composition, and this is mixed with glass. It can also be used as raw material particles GM.

As an example method for obtaining glass raw material particles GM by spray dry granulation, a raw material powder in the range of 2 to 500 μm is dispersed in a solvent such as distilled water as a raw material powder of each of the above components, and a slurry is formed. The slurry is stirred for a predetermined time with a stirrer such as a ball mill, mixed, pulverized, and then spray-dried to obtain glass raw material particles GM in which the raw material powders of the above-mentioned components are dispersed almost uniformly.
In addition, when stirring the slurry with a stirrer, a dispersant such as 2-aminoethanol is used for the purpose of uniformly dispersing the raw material powder, and a binder such as PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) is used for the purpose of improving the strength of the granulated raw material. May be mixed and then stirred.
The glass raw material particles GM used in the present embodiment can be formed by a dry granulation method such as a tumbling granulation method or a stirring granulation method in addition to the above-mentioned spray dry granulation method.

  The weight average particle size of the glass raw material particles GM is preferably in the range of 30 to 1000 μm when the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 are not provided. More preferably, glass raw material particles GM having a weight average particle diameter in the range of 50 to 500 μm are used, and glass raw material particles GM in the range of 70 to 300 μm are more preferable. An example of this glass raw material particle GM is enlarged and shown in FIG. 1, but it is preferable that one glass raw material particle GM has a composition that substantially matches or approximates the composition of the final target glass.

  When the raw material particle preheating means 60 is provided, the glass raw material particles GM may be larger raw material powders, granulated bodies, or a mixture thereof. In the case of using a larger granulated body, dry granulation methods such as mixed stirring granulation method and compression granulation method are generally easier to produce than the above-mentioned spray dry granulation method. In consideration of preheating while continuously dropping the glass raw material particles GM from the raw material particle charging unit 5, the amount of heat necessary for preheating the raw material is proportional to the square of the particle diameter, so the weight average particle size of the glass raw material particles GM The diameter is preferably in the range of 50 to 3000 μm when the raw material particle preheating means 60 is provided. More preferably, glass raw material particles GM having a weight average particle diameter in the range of 50 to 1500 μm are used, and glass raw material particles GM in the range of 70 to 1000 μm are more preferable.

When the raw material particle preheating means 61 is provided, the glass raw material particles GM may be larger raw material powders, granulated bodies, or a mixture thereof. Considering methods such as a rotary kiln and fluidized bed heating as the raw material particle preheating means 61, the heating time can be set as required. However, considering the handling of powder and the fluidity in the raw material particle input pipe 51, the glass raw material The weight average particle diameter of the particles GM is preferably in the range of 50 to 50000 μm when the raw material particle preheating means 61 is provided. More preferably, glass raw material particles GM having a weight average particle diameter in the range of 50 to 10,000 μm are used, and glass raw material particles GM in the range of 50 to 3000 μm are more preferable.
Thus, the use of the raw material particle preheating means 60 and 61 is a granulated product by a dry granulation method whose granulation cost is lower than that of a spray dry granulation method, and a larger granulated material can be used. There is an effect in that the dust in the furnace body 1 of the glass melting furnace 10 is reduced and the total manufacturing cost including the material cost and the energy cost for manufacturing the molten glass G can be reduced.
The weight average particle diameter of the molten glass particles U in which the glass raw material particles GM are melted is usually about 80% of the weight average particle diameter of the glass raw material particles GM. The particle size of the glass raw material particles GM is preferably selected from the above-mentioned range from the viewpoint that it can be heated in a short time, the generated gas can be easily diffused, and the composition variation between the particles is reduced.

Moreover, these glass raw material particle | grains GM can contain a clarifier, a coloring agent, a melting adjuvant, an opacifier, etc. as an auxiliary material as needed. In addition, boric acid and the like in these glass raw material particles GM are easy to evaporate by heating because the vapor pressure at a high temperature is relatively high, so it may be mixed in excess of the composition of the glass as the final product. it can.
In this embodiment, when a clarifier is contained as an auxiliary material, a necessary amount of a clarifier containing one or more elements selected from chlorine (Cl), sulfur (S), and fluorine (F) is required. Can be added. As another fining agent, tin oxide (SnO ₂ ) can be used.
Also, conventionally used fining agents such as Sb and As oxides, even if the effect of reducing bubbles is generated, these fining elements are undesirable elements in terms of reducing environmental impact, and their use is It is preferable to reduce in view of the direction of reducing the environmental load.

An apparatus for producing a glass article according to the present invention includes a glass melting furnace 10 according to the present invention, a molding means for molding the molten glass manufactured by the melting furnace 10, and a slow cooling means for gradually cooling the glass after molding. And. In this glass article manufacturing apparatus, the molten glass G manufactured in the glass melting furnace 10 is discharged from the discharge port 4 at a predetermined speed, introduced into the defoaming apparatus as necessary, and further defoamed, and then the molding apparatus 20. The glass article can be manufactured by transferring to a desired shape.
Since the glass article manufactured as described above is formed from the high-quality molten glass G as described above, a high-quality glass article can be obtained.

Further, the method for producing a glass article of the present invention comprises a step of producing a molten glass by the glass melting furnace of the present invention described above, a step of forming the molten glass, and a step of gradually cooling the glass after molding. Including. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for producing a glass article using the method for producing molten glass according to the present invention.
In order to manufacture a glass article according to the method shown in FIG. 8, if the molten glass G is obtained by the glass melting step S <b> 1 by the above-described molten glass manufacturing method using the glass melting furnace 10 described above, The glass article G5 can be obtained by passing through a molding step S2 that is sent to the molding apparatus 20 to be molded into a desired shape, then slowly cooled in the slow cooling step S3, and cut to a required length in the cutting step S4. .
In addition, the process of grind | polishing the molten glass after shaping | molding is provided as needed, and the glass article G5 can be manufactured.

  The glass melting furnace and the glass article manufacturing apparatus of the present invention are not limited to the example shown in FIG. 1, and as a heating means for forming the heated gas phase atmosphere K, in addition to the oxygen combustion burner 7, thermal plasma is further generated. In addition, a multi-phase arc plasma generating device including a pair of electrodes may be provided. In the case of the oxyfuel flame F, the center temperature is about 2000 ° C. in the case of oxyfuel combustion, and is 5000 to 20000 ° C. in the case of thermal plasma.

  FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing glass beads (glass particles) by carrying out the molten glass manufacturing method according to the present invention. The manufacturing apparatus 30 of the present embodiment includes an accommodating portion 34, The raw material particle input part 5 for supplying glass raw material particles GM, which are installed downward so as to penetrate the ceiling part 34 </ b> A of the housing part 34, and the oxyfuel combustion flame F toward the lower part of the raw material particle input part 5. In order to form, it comprises a plurality of oxygen combustion burners 7, 7 that pass through the ceiling portion 34 </ b> A of the accommodating portion 34 and are installed downward around the raw material particle charging portion 5. The manufacturing apparatus 30 shown in FIG. 9 has a structure similar to that of the glass melting furnace 10 of the previous embodiment, and is different in that the furnace body 1 of the previous apparatus is changed to the accommodating portion 34. Other configurations are the same as those of the glass melting furnace 10 shown in FIG. 1, and the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description of the same elements is omitted. In this case, it is preferable to use a granulated body as the glass raw material particles GM.

In the manufacturing apparatus 30 of the present embodiment, a transport carriage 32 including a stainless steel bucket-shaped storage portion 31 is accommodated inside the accommodation portion 34. Although not shown, the housing surface of the accommodating portion 34 is cooled with cooling water. Further, an exhaust gas device 35 is connected to the side wall portion of the housing portion 34 via the exhaust pipe 33.
Although omitted in FIG. 9, an opening / closing door capable of sealing the accommodation portion 34 is formed on the side wall portion of the accommodation portion 34, and the transport carriage 32 opens the accommodation portion by opening the opening / closing door. 34 can be moved to the outside.

  As in the case of the embodiment described above, the glass raw material particles GM are introduced into the heated gas phase atmosphere K composed of the oxyfuel flame F of the oxyfuel combustion burner 7 from the raw material particle introduction portion 5. Can be melted in a heated gas-phase atmosphere K to form molten glass particles U, and the molten glass particles U are dropped into a stainless steel reservoir 31 and cooled to obtain glass beads GB. it can. Therefore, in the apparatus 30 of the present embodiment, the storage unit 31 is configured to cool the molten glass particles U into glass beads GB and to accumulate the glass beads GB. Although not shown, in order to cool immediately after the generation of the molten glass particles U, a device for spraying a cooling gas may be attached below the front end of the heated gas phase atmosphere K. In addition, in the apparatus 30 of this embodiment, the storage part 31 and the conveyance trolley | bogie 32 are not essential, and these may be abbreviate | omitted and it is good also as a structure which receives the molten glass particle U in the floor part 34B of the accommodating part 34, In that case, an accommodating part The internal space 34 and the floor 34 </ b> B are configured to cool the molten glass particles U.

The manufacturing apparatus 30 shown in FIG. 9 is an oxyfuel combustion that ejects an oxyfuel combustion flame F for forming a raw material particle input portion 5 for introducing glass raw material particles GM and a heated gas phase atmosphere K for heating and melting the glass raw material particles GM. The burner 7 is separated and provided as a separate body. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of the glass raw material particles GM to the tip portion of the oxyfuel burner 7 and the formation of icicles in which the deposits are enlarged. Therefore, since icicles do not fall, glass beads GB of uniform quality can be manufactured.
The glass beads GB thus obtained are used as they are as glass beads, mixed with other raw materials, or used in the production of glass articles by being put into other melting furnaces.
The manufacturing method of the glass bead of this invention includes the process of manufacturing a molten glass with the glass melting furnace of this invention mentioned above, and the process of cooling this molten glass.

The technology of the present invention can be widely applied to the production of architectural glass, vehicle glass, optical glass, medical glass, display glass, glass beads, and other general glass articles.
The entire contents of the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract of Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-135182 filed on June 17, 2011 are incorporated herein by reference. .

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Furnace body, 1A ... Furnace wall part, 1B ... Storage part, 1C ... Side wall, 2 ... Exhaust port, 2a ... Exhaust pipe, 3 ... Exhaust gas treatment apparatus, 4 ... Discharge port, 5, 50 ... Raw material particle input part, 5A ... Input port, 7 ... Oxygen combustion burner, 7A ... Tip, 8 ... Raw material feeder, 9 ... Supply pipe, 10 ... Glass melting furnace, 20 ... Molding device, 30 ... Manufacturing device, 31 ... Storage unit, 33 ... Exhaust pipe, 34 ... storage section, 35 ... exhaust gas treatment device, 51 ... raw material particle input pipe, 52 ... gas supply pipe, 60, 61 ... raw material particle preheating means, K ... heated gas phase atmosphere, G ... molten glass, GM ... Glass raw material particles, U ... molten glass particles, F ... oxygen combustion flame, GB ... glass beads.

Claims (20)

A furnace body containing molten glass, disposed at an upper part of the furnace body, provided with a raw material particle charging part for charging glass raw material particles inside the furnace body, and provided separately from the raw material particle charging part, and A combustion burner that forms a heated gas phase atmosphere for heating and melting glass raw material particles into molten glass particles below the raw material particle charging part, and the raw material particle charging part comprises a raw material particle charging pipe, A glass melting furnace comprising a gas supply pipe arranged around the raw material particle charging pipe .   2. The glass melting furnace according to claim 1, wherein a front end portion of the combustion burner is separated at least in a horizontal direction from a charging port of the raw material particle charging portion and is provided separately.   3. The glass melting furnace according to claim 1, wherein a front end portion of the combustion burner is installed downward around a charging port of the raw material particle charging portion.   The raw material particle preheating means for preheating the glass raw material particles is provided in at least one of the raw material particle input portion and the glass raw material particles before entering the raw material particle input portion. The glass melting furnace described.   A plurality of the combustion burners are provided, and tip portions of the plurality of combustion burners are arranged around the inlet of the raw material particle input portion and on a circumference centering on the raw material particle input portion. The glass melting furnace as described in any one of these.   The glass melting furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the raw material particle charging portion further includes a glass cullet charging portion for charging a cullet piece at a position different from the charging position of the glass raw material particles. The glass melting furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the gas supply pipe is a gas supply pipe that blows gas to an outer periphery of a tip portion of the raw material particle introduction pipe .   The combustion burner is installed such that an angle α formed by a combustion flame by the combustion burner is 0 degree ≦ α ≦ 45 degrees with respect to a vertically downward raw material particle input shaft in the raw material particle input unit. The glass melting furnace as described in any one of claim | item 1 -7. A heated gas phase atmosphere is formed by the combustion flame of the combustion burner, and the raw material powder is mixed in accordance with the composition of the target glass from the raw material particle input part provided separately from the combustion burner above the heated gas phase atmosphere When the glass raw material particles are sent into the heated gas phase atmosphere to melt the glass raw material particles into molten glass particles, a raw material particle charging tube and a gas disposed around the raw material particle charging tube The manufacturing method of the molten glass which sends the said glass raw material particle in the said heating gaseous-phase atmosphere from the said raw material particle input part provided with a supply pipe .   The inlet of the raw material particle charging unit is provided at least in the horizontal direction and separately from the tip of the combustion burner, so that the glass raw material particles are separated from the inlet of the raw material particle charging unit at the combustion flame. The manufacturing method of the molten glass of Claim 9 which contacts.   The method for producing molten glass according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the glass raw material particles have a weight average particle diameter in a range of 30 to 1000 µm.   The method for producing molten glass according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the glass raw material particles are heated in advance before the glass raw material particles are sent to the heated gas phase atmosphere.   The method for producing molten glass according to claim 12, wherein the glass raw material particles have a weight average particle diameter in a range of 50 to 3000 μm.   14. The combustion flame is jetted from a tip portion of the combustion burner disposed on a circumference centering on the charging port around the charging port of the raw material particle charging unit. A method for producing molten glass.   The manufacturing method of the molten glass as described in any one of Claims 9-14 with which a glass cullet piece is thrown in from the part of the said raw material particle injection | throwing-in part in a position different from the injection position of the said glass raw material particle. The manufacturing method of the molten glass as described in any one of Claims 9-15 which ejects gas below from the outer periphery of the front-end | tip of the said raw material particle injection pipe | tube by the said gas supply pipe | tube .   The combustion flame is ejected downward from the combustion burner so that an angle α formed by the combustion flame is 0 degree ≦ α ≦ 45 degrees with respect to a vertically downward raw material particle input axis in the raw material particle input portion. The manufacturing method of the molten glass as described in any one of 9-16.   A step of manufacturing a molten glass using the method for manufacturing a molten glass according to any one of claims 9 to 17, a step of forming the molten glass, and a step of gradually cooling the glass after forming. A method for producing a glass article.   A glass comprising the glass melting furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 8, a forming means for forming molten glass produced by the glass melting furnace, and a slow cooling means for gradually cooling the glass after forming. Article manufacturing equipment.   The manufacturing method of the glass bead containing the process of manufacturing a molten glass using the manufacturing method of the molten glass as described in any one of Claims 9-17, and the process of cooling this molten glass.

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