GB959895A - Improvements in furnaces for glass manufacture and a method of operation thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

959,895. Glass melting furnaces. BRITISH GLASS INDUSTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION, and G. R. MATTOCKS. Nov. 30, 1961 [Nov. 30, 1960], No. 41218/60. Heading F4B. In a furnace for the heating and at least partial reaction of glass making materials a reaction chamber is energized by pulsating combustion and means are provided for introducing the glass making materials into suspension in the reaction chamber. The reaction chamber is designed to support a standing wave which is energized as a result of pulsating combustion occurring in suitably designed barrier units communicating with the said chamber. In the form shown a main reaction chamber 1 in the form of a cylinder is constructed of refractory material and divided into two parts A, B, each being closed at its outer end. At a distance of approximately one quarter of the wavelength of the standing wave from the closed ends a set of radially spaced pulsating combustion units 6 communicates with the interior of the cylinder. These units 6 are made up of a combustion zone chamber 7 and a diffuser 8. Fuel, e.g. oil or gas, is fed into the pulsating combustion units by lines such as 9, 10, and the air is supplied through lines 11 and 12. Air is also supplied tangentially through inlets 13, 14 to produce a swirl effect in the reaction chamber, which has an annular recess 15 in its internal wall at the velocity nodal points, to encourage swirled particles to collect and then, aided by the raised portions 2 of the floor of the reaction chamber, to discharge into corresponding outlets 3 provided with auxiliary heating electrodes 4 for sustaining the particles, now in the form of a viscous melt, in a fluent state. The outlets 3 lead via ducts 3<SP>1</SP> to a common channel 5 leading, for example, to a glass refining unit. An exhaust chimney 16 is provided with tangential inlet tubes 17 for a diluent cooling fluid and also a cyclone for the final precipitation of any entrained solids. The glass making materials are fed in partly through the combustion units 6 at 18 and partly by direct introduction into the reaction chamber. Silica and calcium carbonate constituents being fed either separately to individual combustion units or as a mixture. The alkali component of the batch, e.g. the sodium carbonate, is preferably introduced by separate inlets 19 in the reaction chamber, so that premature reaction between the glass making materials in the diffuser 8 is precluded. In a modification the reaction chamber is of an annular form.