CN220958883U - Glass heating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a glass heating apparatus comprising a flange having an opening therein for surrounding a vessel and a primary bussing coupled to the flange to power the flange, wherein the primary bussing comprises a body and a plated metal layer, such as plated nickel, clad on the body. The utility model can alleviate the problems of surface oxidation, overheating and the like of the main confluence piece through the electroplated metal layer on the main confluence piece.

Description

Glass heating apparatus

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a heating apparatus, and more particularly, to a heating apparatus that heats glass via an on-current.

Background

Techniques for

Glass is a common industrial material that can be brought into a molten state by heating to facilitate subsequent processing or transport. The finer (finer) and stir chamber (stinr chamber) are two types of equipment that are often used together in glass processing and may be referred to collectively as FSC. After bubbles are removed from the molten glass by the finer, the molten glass is fed through a line to a stir chamber for stirring, and the line carrying the molten glass remains heated. Wherein, the flange (flange) is one of glass heating components used for heating pipelines in industry; such flanges are powered via the main bus bar and openings are provided in the flanges to allow the glass carrying container to pass through the flanges. Since the main bus, flange and container are all made of conductive material, current can flow from the power source through the main bus, flange and container to heat the glass in the container.

However, during operation of the heating apparatus, the high temperatures (e.g., above about 400 degrees celsius) cause various components to react with ambient air, causing the component surfaces to gradually oxidize. This may cause non-uniform current and temperature or overheating of the heating device, even making the heating device unusable. In addition, the oxidized components need to be replaced, which also increases costs.

Therefore, a solution is needed to slow down the surface oxidation of the heating assembly.

Disclosure of utility model

The present disclosure relates to a glass heating apparatus including a flange and a heating assembly such as a main bus bar. The heating element disclosed by the disclosure is coated by the electroplated metal layer, so that the problems of surface oxidation, overheating and the like of the heating element can be alleviated. For example, in the case of forming the main bus bar from a copper block, the electroplated nickel layer on the copper block can raise the temperature at which the surface of the main bus bar begins to oxidize by hundreds of degrees celsius, thus alleviating the surface oxidation problem of the main bus bar and extending the life of the glass heating apparatus. Technical advantages of the present disclosure also include direct application to conventional heating assemblies, and the plating process adds only a small cost and is cost effective.

Specifically, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a glass heating apparatus characterized by comprising: a flange having an opening therein for surrounding a container; and a primary buss member coupled to the flange to power the flange, wherein the primary buss member includes a body and a plated metal layer coated on the body.

In some embodiments, the body of the primary buss member is a copper block.

In some embodiments, the electroplated metal layer is electroplated nickel.

In some embodiments, the flange comprises an outermost ring and an innermost ring, wherein the outermost ring and the innermost ring are coplanar and coupled together, wherein the outermost ring is further coupled to the primary manifold, and the innermost ring is further coupled to the vessel.

In some embodiments, the innermost ring has a cross-sectional thickness that is greater than a cross-sectional thickness of a wall of the container.

In some embodiments, the flange further comprises one or more rings located between and coplanar with the outermost ring and the innermost ring.

In some embodiments, the container is a hollowed out metal tube.

In some embodiments, the flanges are rounded.

In some embodiments, the innermost ring has a cross-sectional thickness that is greater than a cross-sectional thickness of the outermost ring.

In some embodiments, the glass heating apparatus further comprises a secondary bussing member, wherein the secondary bussing member is disposed around the periphery of the flange for providing power.

In some embodiments, the secondary manifold is formed from cooling tubes through which a controlled coolant can circulate.

In some embodiments, the outermost ring and the innermost ring are concentric.

In some embodiments, the one or more rings are concentric with the outermost ring and the innermost ring.

Other advantages and configurations of the glass heating apparatus of the present disclosure will be further described in the following detailed description.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present utility model, the drawings of the embodiments are briefly described below; however, the following drawings merely show some embodiments of the utility model by way of example, and other variations to the embodiments shown in the drawings may be made by those skilled in the art of the utility model. Furthermore, the drawings herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not drawn to scale, nor should they be construed as limiting the utility model in any way.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a heating apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an enlarged schematic view of a flange, a primary manifold, and a secondary manifold of a heating apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a flange according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4a, 4b illustrate schematic diagrams of single ring and multiple ring designs of flanges, respectively, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. The techniques of this disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

The term "about" as used herein means that the number, size, or other parameters and characteristics need not be exact, but may be approximate and/or larger or smaller, as desired: reflecting tolerances, scaling factors, rounding off, measurement errors and the like, as well as other factors known to those skilled in the art.

Directional terms as used herein, e.g., upper, lower, right, left, front, rear, top, bottom, unless explicitly stated otherwise, describe the relative positions of the components with reference only to the drawing figures and are not meant to be absolute orientations nor should they be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure.

Reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" or "some embodiments" means that a feature, structure, or component is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in an embodiment" or "in some embodiments" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or components may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

It will be further understood that terms such as "first," "second," "third," and the like may be used herein to describe various components, but these components should not be limited by the terms "first," "second," "third," and the like.

As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a" or "an" component may include two or more such components.

The words "example," "schematic," or various forms thereof are used herein to mean an example or instance. Configurations described herein as "exemplary" or "schematic" are not to be interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other configurations or designs. Moreover, the examples provided herein are for clarity and ease of understanding only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The techniques disclosed herein may be embodied as other or alternative examples, but have been omitted for the sake of brevity.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The heating apparatus of fig. 1 includes a flange 100 and a main bus 106, with an opening in the flange 100 to allow a container 110 to pass through, such that the flange 100 surrounds the container 110 and is coupled to the wall of the container 110. The vessel 110 may be a hollow metal tube for containing or transporting molten glass. One end of the primary buss 106 is coupled to the flange 100 and the other end is coupled to a power source (not shown), so the primary buss 106 is the primary bridge for the power source to power the flange 100. When an electric current flows from flange 100 through vessel 110, the vessel 110 itself and the glass in vessel 110 can be heated.

Heat is generated during the power supply of the main bus bar 106, so that the temperature of the main bus bar 106 increases. Metals at high temperatures are susceptible to oxidation by the action of ambient air. To slow down the surface oxidation of the primary bussing member, the surface of the primary bussing member 106 of the present disclosure is coated with one or more layers of electroplated metal (not shown in fig. 1), such as electroplated nickel or other electroplated metals. In some embodiments, the plating of the nickel layer on the primary buss 106 can raise the temperature at which oxidation begins by hundreds of degrees celsius and thus is less prone to oxidation during power. In addition, nickel materials are inexpensive, and thus the techniques of the present disclosure are more cost effective.

Although two flanges 100 are shown in fig. 1, in practice other numbers (e.g., one or more than three) of flanges may be used. Different flanges can supply current to different parts of the container individually, so that different parts of the container 110 can be heated to different degrees according to the requirements, and the whole container 110 is heated more uniformly. In addition, although the container 110 in fig. 1 is circular in shape, those skilled in the art may use other shapes of the container 110, such as oval, square, hexagonal, or other polygons, etc., as desired.

The flange 100 in the embodiment of fig. 1 includes an inner ring 102 and an outer ring 104, wherein the outer ring 104 and the inner ring 102 are coplanar and coupled together (e.g., via welding), and the outer ring 104 is further coupled to a primary manifold 106, and the inner ring 102 is further coupled to a vessel 110. In operation, an electrical current may flow from a power source through the primary manifold 106, the outer ring 104, the inner ring 102, and the vessel 110 to heat the glass in the vessel 110. The inner ring 102 of the flange 100 forms an opening that matches the shape of the container 110 so that the inner ring 102 can be integrally attached to the container 110.

Since the flange 100 of fig. 1 has only two rings, the inner ring 102 and the outer ring 104, the inner ring 102 is the innermost ring of the flange 100 and the outer ring 104 is the outermost ring of the flange 100. In some variations, flange 100 may include other numbers of rings (e.g., one ring, or more than three rings); this variation will be further described below with respect to fig. 4a, 4 b.

The inner ring 102 and the outer ring 104 shown in fig. 1 are circular, so the flanges 100 formed by the inner ring 102 and the outer ring 104 are also circular in shape. However, other shapes of the inner ring 102 and outer ring 104 may be used as desired by those skilled in the art, such as oval, spiral, square, hexagonal, or other polygonal shapes, etc. Furthermore, the inner ring 102 and the outer ring 104 shown in fig. 1 are concentric; however, in alternative embodiments, the inner ring 102 and the outer ring 104 may be eccentric, i.e., the center of the inner ring 102 and the center of the outer ring 104 fall at different points.

Fig. 1 also shows secondary buss 108, which surrounds the outermost ring of flanges 100 (in the embodiment of fig. 1, outer ring 104 is the outermost ring), and may assist primary buss 106 in supplying power to allow more even distribution of current throughout flanges 100.

In some embodiments, the walls of the vessel 110 and the flange 100 may be covered with an insulating refractory material (not shown in FIG. 1) to control heat loss from the vessel 110 and the flange 100.

In some embodiments, to enable the heating device to heat the glass in the vessel 110 more uniformly, corners (e.g., about 90 degree corners) of some connection points between the components of the primary manifold 106, outer ring 104, inner ring 102, and vessel 110 may be connected with fillet welds (FILLET WELDING). This is because the corners of the connection points are prone to heat concentration, and the heating device may be operated with localized hot spots at the connection points between the components to cause uneven heating, and may be overheated due to high temperature to cause damage or detachment of the components. The corners of the connecting points after fillet welding become smoother, so that the phenomenon of heat concentration can be relieved.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the heating characteristics may also be affected by varying the cross-sectional thicknesses of the primary manifold 106, outer ring 104, inner ring 102, and vessel 110, the principle of which is as follows. The heat generated by the current is proportional to the current density, which in turn: (1) Inversely proportional to the cross-sectional thickness of the assembly, (2) inversely proportional to the radius of the flanges (e.g., flange 100 comprising outer ring 104, inner ring 102); different thickness designs of the assembly can be used to influence the heating effect. For example, to be able to avoid overheating of the flange 100 while the vessel 110 is being heated, in some embodiments the inner ring 102 and/or the outer ring 104 of the flange 100 may have a cross-sectional thickness that is greater than the cross-sectional thickness of the wall of the vessel 110, such that the current density of the flange 100 is lower and therefore the flange 100 is less prone to overheating. In addition, in order to make the overall current distribution of flange 100 uniform, in some embodiments, the cross-sectional thickness of inner ring 102 may be made greater than the cross-sectional thickness of outer ring 104 to compensate for the effect of the radius of the ring on the current density, making the current distribution more uniform.

Fig. 2, 3 further describe other specific details of the heating apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

The heating apparatus of fig. 2 includes a main bus 206 and a flange 200, wherein the flange 200 includes an inner ring 202 and an outer ring 204. In some embodiments, the heating apparatus further comprises a secondary manifold 208. The flanges 200, inner ring 202, outer ring 204, primary manifold 206, secondary manifold 208 of fig. 2 may correspond to the flanges 100, inner ring 102, outer ring 104, primary manifold 106, secondary manifold 108 of fig. 1, respectively.

In the embodiment of fig. 2, the inner ring 202, outer ring 204, primary and secondary bus members 206, 208 are composed primarily of copper, platinum, or other conductive metals, such as alloys of copper or platinum at least 80 weight percent, or pure metals. Platinum has the advantages of good conductivity, high melting point, difficult corrosion and the like, but platinum is also relatively expensive. Copper, by comparison, also has conductive properties and is much cheaper than platinum, so it may be more cost effective to use copper as the material for the inner ring, outer ring, primary bus, secondary bus, etc. components in some embodiments. However, as previously described, the surface of the primary manifold 206 gradually oxidizes during use of the heating apparatus. To alleviate the oxidation problem, in some embodiments the primary bussing member 206 may be electroplated, with one or more layers of electroplated metal, such as electroplated nickel, coating the surface of the primary bussing member 206. The temperature at which the nickel plated primary buss 206 begins to oxidize may be hundreds of degrees celsius higher than the primary buss without the plated metal, so the metal plating may slow down the oxidation of the component surface. In some variations, flange 200 may also be electroplated to form an electroplated layer, alleviating oxidation problems.

The cooling function of the secondary manifold 208 can also be used to slow oxidation. In some embodiments, secondary manifold 208 may be a cooling tube composed of an electrically conductive metal that is disposed about primary manifold 206 and/or flange 200. In addition to being able to supply electricity, the secondary manifold 208 may also be able to circulate a controlled coolant therethrough to cool the primary manifold 206 and/or the flange 200. Cooling with the subcollector 208 also achieves a slow down of oxidation because the high temperature tends to oxidize the component surfaces.

Fig. 3 shows an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of a flange according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, the heating apparatus includes an inner ring 302 and an outer ring 304, wherein the inner ring 302 is coupled to a wall of a vessel 308 and the outer ring 304 is surrounded by a secondary manifold 306. The inner ring, outer ring, container, secondary manifold, etc. components shown in fig. 3 may be referred to interchangeably with respect to fig. 1 and 2. The inner ring 302 and the outer ring 304 in fig. 3 may be made of sheet metal, wherein the cross-sectional thickness of the inner ring 302 is greater than the cross-sectional thickness of the outer ring 304, and/or the cross-sectional thickness of the inner ring 302 is greater than the cross-sectional thickness of the wall of the container 308. Those skilled in the art may vary the cross-sectional thicknesses of inner ring 302, outer ring 304, and receptacle 308 as desired, and the cross-sectional thickness of inner ring 302 need not be greater than the cross-sectional thicknesses of outer ring 304 and receptacle 308. For example, in some variant embodiments, the cross-sectional thickness of the inner ring 302 is equal to or less than the cross-sectional thickness of the wall of the container 308.

The secondary manifold 306 in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 is a metal pipe (e.g., copper pipe) through which a cooling fluid, such as water, or other liquid or gaseous form of coolant, may be circulated. The secondary manifold 306 may cool the heating apparatus to slow down surface oxidation of the heating assembly. In addition, secondary manifold 306 may provide power to the flanges (e.g., inner ring 302 and outer ring 304) to allow more uniform distribution of current throughout the flanges, which also indirectly improves the heating uniformity of vessel 308.

In some variations, secondary buss 306 may be cooled only and not powered.

In some other variant embodiments, the secondary buss 306 may be powered only without cooling.

In still other variations, secondary bussing member 306 may have other configurations, for example secondary bussing member 306 may be a solid metal wire.

The flanges described above with reference to figures 1 to 3 are double ring flanges; however, in some alternative embodiments, the flanges may have other numbers of rings. Fig. 4a, 4b show schematic diagrams of single ring and multiple ring designs of flanges, respectively, according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the embodiment of fig. 4a, flange 400 comprises a single ring 410, wherein an opening is formed in single ring 410 to allow a container (not shown) to pass therethrough. The primary buss 406 is coupled to a single ring 410 to power the flange 400. A secondary manifold 408 is provided around the single ring 410, wherein the secondary manifold 408 may be a metal pipe for power and/or cooling.

In the variant embodiment of fig. 4b, the flange 400 is modified to a multi-ring design comprising an innermost ring 402 and an outermost ring 404, with an additional ring 412 between the innermost ring 402 and the outermost ring 404. In further variations, other numbers (e.g., more than two) of rings may be provided between the innermost ring 402 and the outermost ring 404. FIG. 4b shows innermost ring 402, ring 412 and outermost ring 404 being coplanar and concentric; however, one skilled in the art may arrange the innermost ring 402, the ring 412, and the outermost ring 404 to be non-coplanar or eccentric as desired.

As previously described, the heat generated by the current is proportional to the current density, which is inversely proportional to the radius of the flange. Thus, in some embodiments, to make the flange temperature uniform, the cross-sectional thickness of each ring of the flange may be made thicker as the radius decreases; for example, the innermost ring 402 has a maximum cross-sectional thickness, the outermost ring 404 has a minimum cross-sectional thickness, and the ring 412 has a cross-sectional thickness between the innermost ring 402 and the outermost ring 404.

The above-described embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present utility model. Various modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments of the disclosure by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The present disclosure encompasses such modifications and variations.

Claims (13)

1. Glass heating apparatus, characterized in that the glass heating apparatus comprises:

A flange having an opening therein for surrounding a container; and

A primary buss member coupled to the flange to power the flange, wherein the primary buss member includes a body and a plated metal layer coated on the body.

2. The glass heating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the body of the primary manifold is a copper block.

3. The glass heating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the electroplated metal layer is electroplated nickel.

4. The glass heating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flange comprises an outermost ring and an innermost ring, wherein the outermost ring and the innermost ring are coplanar and coupled together, wherein the outermost ring is further coupled to the primary manifold and the innermost ring is further coupled to the vessel.

5. The glass heating apparatus of claim 4, wherein the innermost ring has a cross-sectional thickness greater than a cross-sectional thickness of the wall of the vessel.

6. A glass heating apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the flange further comprises one or more rings positioned between and coplanar with the outermost ring and the innermost ring.

7. Glass heating apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the container is a hollowed out metal tube.

8. The glass heating apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flanges are rounded.

9. The glass heating apparatus of claim 4, wherein the innermost ring has a cross-sectional thickness greater than a cross-sectional thickness of the outermost ring.

10. The glass heating apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a secondary manifold, wherein the secondary manifold is disposed about the periphery of the flange for providing power.

11. The glass heating apparatus of claim 10, wherein the secondary manifold is formed from a cooling tube through which a controlled coolant can flow.

12. The glass heating apparatus of claim 4, wherein the outermost ring and the innermost ring are concentric.

13. The glass heating apparatus of claim 6, wherein the one or more rings are concentric with the outermost ring and the innermost ring.