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Title: Development of a process control sensor for the glass industry

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6037298· OSTI ID:6037298

This project was initiated to fill a need in the glass industry for a non-contact temperature sensor for glass melts. At present, the glass forming industry (e.g., bottle manufacture) consumes significant amounts of energy. Careful control of temperature at the point the bottle is molded is necessary to prevent the bottle from being rejected as out-of-specification. In general, the entire glass melting and conditioning process is designed to minimize this rejection rate, maximize throughput and thus control energy and production costs. This program focuses on the design, development and testing of an advanced optically based pyrometer for glass melts. The pyrometer operates simultaneously at four wavelengths; through analytical treatment of the signals, internal temperature profiles within the glass melt can be resolved. A novel multiplexer alloys optical signals from a large number of fiber-optic sensors to be collected and resolved by a single detector at a location remote from the process. This results in a significant cost savings on a per measurement point basis. The development program is divided into two phases. Phase 1 involves the construction of a breadboard version on the instrument and its testing on a pilot-scale furnace. In Phase 2, a prototype analyzer will be constructed and tested on a commercial forehearth. This report covers the Phase 1 activities.

Research Organization:
Energy and Environmental Research Corp., Irvine, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FC07-89ID12781
OSTI ID:
6037298
Report Number(s):
DOE/ID/12781-1; ON: DE92002444
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English