Glass strengthening furnace and glass strengthening method

Abstract

A glass strengthening furnace and a glass strengthening method, comprising a preheating corrugated furnace body, a heating corrugated furnace body, and a soaking corrugated furnace body, the preheating corrugated furnace body is divided into a plurality of stages along the direction of glass travel, each stage is provided with a smoke intake port and a smoke injection joint, the preheating corrugated furnace body is configured to suck in smoke from the preheating stage through the smoke intake port, the smoke injection joint is configured to send the sucked smoke to the furnace body, the heating corrugated furnace body is provided with a plurality of infrared combustors, the infrared combustors are porous media combustors, and the soaking corrugated furnace body is provided with a plurality of air ducts, which are configured to generate horizontal and parallel air flows on the upper and lower surfaces of the glass.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application having a filing date of November 1, 2022 and application number 202211358216.6, Chinese patent application having a filing date of November 1, 2022 and application number 202222929439.5, and Chinese patent application having a filing date of September 4, 2023 and application number 202322399577.1, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE This application relates to the field of glass strengthening, for example to glass strengthening furnaces and methods. [Background technology]

[0003] Glass, as a transparent or translucent amorphous material, exhibits unique performance in the heat transfer process. Glass has a structure with short-range order and long-range disorder. Glass is transparent or translucent to visible light and infrared light, and when it receives heat from the outside, high-frequency electromagnetic radiation energy is generated inside, and this heat transfer process is called photon thermal conduction. Photon thermal conduction of transparent glass at room temperature accounts for about 10% of the total heat transfer, and as the temperature rises, the effect of photon thermal conduction increases, and volume radiation occurs inside the glass.

[0004] Ordinary transparent glass has a high emissivity and can absorb thermal radiation energy well. Low-E glass is made by coating the surface of ordinary glass with a thin film with low emissivity. The most prominent properties of Low-E glass are high reflectivity for far-infrared radiation, low reflectivity for near-infrared radiation, and high transmittance for visible light. This means that after Low-E glass is used in a building, a portion of the visible light in the sunlight can be transmitted, playing the role of daylighting, while most of the infrared radiation that can cause thermal effects is blocked out of the window. The surface modification of Low-E glass causes many technical problems in the tempering heating process.

[0005] Compared with ordinary glass, tempered glass belongs to safety glass. Tempered glass is actually pre-stressed glass, and in order to increase the strength of the glass, compressive stress is usually formed on the surface of the glass by chemical or physical methods, so that when the glass is subjected to external force, the surface stress is first offset, thereby increasing the load-bearing capacity and enhancing the wind pressure resistance, cold resistance, heat resistance, impact resistance, etc. of the glass itself.

[0006] Glass strengthening can be divided into "physical strengthening" and "chemical strengthening".

[0007] Physical strengthening is achieved by heating ordinary flat glass in a furnace to a temperature close to the softening temperature of glass (600°C), which removes internal stress through its own distortion. After the glass is removed from the furnace, high-pressure cold air is blown onto both sides of the glass using multiple nozzles, and the glass is cooled quickly and evenly to room temperature, resulting in tempered glass.

[0008] Chemical strengthening is the process of increasing the strength of glass by changing the chemical composition of the glass surface, and is generally achieved by applying the ion exchange method. The method involves soaking silicate glass containing alkali metal ions in molten lithium (Li+) salt, exchanging the Na+ or K+ ions on the glass surface with Li+ ions, forming a Li+ ion exchange layer on the surface, and since the expansion coefficient of Li+ is smaller than that of Na+ and K+ ions, the outer layer shrinks less during the cooling process and the inner layer shrinks more, so that after cooling to room temperature, the glass is in a similar state, with the inner layer under tension and the outer layer under pressure, and the effect is similar to that of physical strengthening of glass.

[0009] Described herein is a physical tempering equipment--a tempering furnace.

[0010] From the viewpoint of heat transfer, the heat transfer processes involved in the heating process in a glass tempering furnace include "radiative heat transfer", "convective heat transfer", and "conduction".

[0011] Regarding radiation heat transfer, radiation is everywhere. After a piece of cold glass enters the furnace of a glass tempering furnace, various heating elements, furnace wall insulation materials, and ceramic rollers all emit radiant heat to heat the glass. Waves have two forms of "absorption + transmission" for the heated object, and can only heat the object by absorbing it. From the viewpoint of the spectrum curve of glass, due to the composition, the infrared transmittance curve is not a straight line, but is expressed in the form of "peaks and valleys", and the "valleys" are the wavelength range that glass can absorb, and the wavelengths that can be absorbed are not limited.

[0012] 12 is only the infrared transmission curve of the glass according to one embodiment, and the curves of different types of glass are different. This requires that the wavelength of the wave emitted outward from the heat source during the glass strengthening heating process should be a "wide width" wave, and cover the absorption wavelengths corresponding to different types of glass as much as possible. In practice, that is, it requires that the temperature of the heat source can be high and low (compared to the resistance wire).

[0013] Regarding convection heat transfer, there are several convection heat transfer methods in the production process of tempered glass:

[0014] 1. Regarding natural convection, when there is a temperature difference in the furnace, the air will flow naturally. When the cold glass enters the heating furnace, the lower surface of the glass will have natural convection heating, and the upper surface of the glass will form an air barrier with the cold air. Without forced convection, the effect of natural convection heating is small. The effect of natural convection on the four sides of the block-shaped flat glass is significant, which generally results in the "hot side" of the glass, which causes the temperature of the glass side to be too high, affecting the quality of the optical imaging of the glass.

[0015] 2. Forced convection with a thermal equilibrium tube: Generally, there is a thermal equilibrium tube near the heating element in the furnace, and the compressed air in the tube is heated to hot air, which is then blown directly onto the upper and lower surfaces of the glass. The thermal equilibrium gas heats the glass through forced convection, while also making the temperature in the furnace uniform. However, when the glass is in a high-temperature softened state, the airflow with a certain speed and pressure will form a "pattern" on the surface of the softened glass, which is also a drawback of this type of forced convection.

[0016] 3. Regarding forced convection as the main heating method, both gas heating furnaces and air cushion heating furnaces use forced convection as one of the main heating methods. With the rapid spread of market applications that can temper low-E glass, forced convection heating furnaces using high-temperature fans or compressed air have also been developed. The use of forced convection heating can shorten the glass heating time, improve production efficiency, make the glass temperature more uniform, and improve product quality.

[0017] Regarding heat conduction, the upper surface of the glass does not contact the elements in the furnace, and only the lower surface contacts the ceramic roller. The ceramic roller is made of quartz as the main material with the addition of auxiliary materials, and has a thermal expansion coefficient of almost 0 and low thermal conductivity. The contact area between the ceramic roller and the glass is small (theoretically a line contact), so heat conduction is not the main method in the entire heat transfer process, and less than 10% of the heat absorbed by the glass in the heating furnace comes from heat conduction. However, when the cold glass is first introduced into the furnace, the lower surface of the cold glass will contact the hot ceramic roller, which will cause the glass to bend upward or break, and this point should be paid attention to.

[0018] In the related art, when glass is heated in the radiant tempering furnace in the industry, the heat source comes from the electric heating elements at the top and bottom of the furnace, and the electric heating elements are usually nickel-chrome resistance wires. There are two types of electric heating elements: the first is inserted into a metal tube and radiates heat in the form of a radiant tube, and the second is embedded in a heat-resistant ceramic tube and the resistance wire radiates heat directly into the furnace. The glass is usually placed flat on a transmission roller made mainly of heat-resistant ceramics, and is fed into the furnace by the rotation of the roller. In order to strengthen large-sized flat glass, the electric heating elements in the furnace are generally arranged as full as possible at the top and bottom of the furnace. When the glass is fed into the furnace at room temperature, it is subjected to radiant heat transfer from the electric heating elements and heat transfer to the glass in contact with the transmission roller. The furnace temperature is generally around 700℃, and the temperature of the transmission roller is high, so the glass receives a large amount of heat through heat transfer, which makes the temperature of the lower surface of the glass higher than that of the upper surface, resulting in uneven temperature distribution in the thickness direction of the glass sheet, and the glass is bent and the edges are warped upward. At this time, gravity is concentrated in the center of the glass sheet, and roller marks are formed. Uneven heating will also cause white spots in the center of the glass, and this problem will be even more serious when the base sheet of the laminated glass is reinforced.

[0019] Low emissivity (Low-E) glass is a coating of a film on one surface of ordinary glass. During tempering, the coating film is fed into the tempering furnace with the surface facing up to avoid damage to the coating film layer by the roller. From the perspective of heat transfer, it is required that the heat transfer speed from the upper and lower surfaces of the glass to the inside of the glass during heating be kept consistent to ensure that the glass is heated evenly. Electric heating elements mainly use radiation to heat Low-E glass, and infrared radiation generates obvious heat effects when projected onto an object, which is the main component of the heat rays. The emissivity of Low-E glass is unbalanced, and the lower surface of the glass has a high emissivity of about 0.90. After absorbing a large amount of heat, the temperature of the lower surface rises, the effective thermal conductivity increases, and the heat is further transferred to the inside. Meanwhile, the emissivity of the coating film side is generally 0.10 to 0.23, and the coating film layer reflects a large amount of infrared radiation energy, which makes it difficult for heat radiation to be transferred from the surface of the coating film to the inside of the glass.

[0020] In the related art, in order to heat the surface of the glass uniformly, the surface of the glass must be completely covered by the heating element. Such a surface heating method is characterized by the need to provide at least 50% of the heat of the heat source to the surface or a layer close to the surface of the object to be heated. The heating methods in the related art have limitations. For example, when a resistance wire made of chromium aluminum cobalt metal wire is used for heating, the maximum load on the heater wall at 1000°C is 60 kW / m. 2 whereas a full black radiator at the same temperature can only reach a power density of 149kW / m 2 In the related art resistance wire heating, the heater array is very dense, and such an arrangement shortens the service life of the heating element.

[0021] In the glass heating process, the maximum heating temperature of the nickel-chromium alloy of the electric heating element in the related art is 1150°C, and the maximum heating temperature of the iron-chromium alloy is 1400°C. In consideration of the furnace temperature and cost, most electric heating elements in the related art are made of nickel-chromium alloy. From the correspondence relationship between the heat source temperature and the wavelength of radiation, the wavelength radiated outward when the heating temperature is 1150°C is 2.04 microns. Considering the furnace temperature and the tempering temperature of the glass, the heating temperature of the resistance wire in the electric heating tempering furnace is less than 1150°C, which is usually between 800°C and 900°C, and the corresponding heat source radiation wavelength is 2.47μm to 2.7μm, and such a wavelength is actually narrow, and not all glass absorption wavelengths are between 2.47μm to 2.7μm.

[0022] The related art gradually starts to use infrared radiators to heat transparent glass uniformly, increase the heating speed of glass, and shorten the heating time. However, the drawback of this method is that it cannot guarantee uniform radiation on the entire surface of the glass object, so that the projection of the intensity distribution of the infrared radiation source is formed on the surface of the glass that needs to be heated.

[0023] In order to solve the above problems, the glass industry has introduced "forced convection heat exchange technology" into tempering furnaces. Adding forced convection at the top in a roller tempering furnace is beneficial for symmetrical heating of glass. In addition, for low-E glass, the heating time is significantly increased due to the presence of coating film, and adding forced convection can shorten the heating time and reduce the temperature of the furnace chamber, which is beneficial for reducing the loss of the film layer and improving production efficiency. There is no need to add forced convection at the bottom. Originally, roller tempering furnaces, whether due to the inevitable heat transfer of the rollers or the natural convection at the bottom, will heat up too fast at the bottom, causing the glass to warp upward and form white mist in the middle. More importantly, when the middle heats up too fast and the center of the glass is heated to the tempering temperature, the bottom surface will become too hot and soft, resulting in bumps and roller marks on the bottom surface of the glass, which is troublesome. Adding forced convection at the bottom will make this contradiction even more noticeable.

[0024] However, glass tempering in related technologies, especially tempering of coated glass and Low-E glass, still has problems such as upward warping and shaking of the glass due to the temperature rise of the lower surface of the glass being too fast and the temperature rise of the upper surface of the glass being too slow at the initial stage when the glass enters the furnace, a short life span and slow heating speed due to the heating elements of the electric heating tempering furnace being arranged too densely, and uneven heating and high energy consumption due to the infrared radiation heating technology introduced in the tempering furnace. Summary of the Invention

[0025] The present application provides a glass tempering furnace and a glass tempering method which can heat glass quickly and uniformly and can be applied to tempering heating of ordinary glass, especially to the tempering requirements of coated glass and Low-E glass.

[0026] The present application discloses a glass strengthening furnace comprising: a preheating corrugated furnace body having a feed port with a general smoke exhaust port and divided into multiple stages along the direction of glass travel, with each stage being provided with a smoke intake port and a smoke injection joint; a heating corrugated furnace body provided with multiple infrared combustors which are porous media combustors; and a soaking corrugated furnace body provided behind the heating corrugated furnace body along the direction of glass travel, with multiple air ducts provided therein which are configured to generate horizontal, parallel airflows on the upper and lower surfaces of the glass, wherein the preheating corrugated furnace body is configured to suck up smoke from the heating corrugated furnace body through the smoke intake port and send the sucked up smoke to the preheating corrugated furnace body through the smoke injection joint.

[0027] The present application further discloses a glass tempering method using the above glass tempering furnace, the method including: laying glass flat in a single layer on a side material placement table manually (or by an automated device), arranging products; moving the glass by a transmission roller to enter a preheating corrugated body, completing preheating of the products in the preheating corrugated body; moving the glass into a heating corrugated body, and increasing the temperature of the glass to a preset temperature of 600°C to 640°C; moving the glass from the heating corrugated body into a uniform heating corrugated body, and circulating and moving gas brushes against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass, thereby heating and uniforming the temperature of the glass. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0028] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a glass strengthening furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a first viewing angle of a preheating corrugated furnace of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a preheating corrugated furnace body of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application, showing a second viewing angle. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a preheating corrugated furnace body of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application, showing a third viewing angle. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a flue gas injection joint of a preheating corrugated furnace of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is an enlarged structural schematic diagram of a flue gas injection joint and an expander of a preheating corrugated furnace of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a first viewing angle of a heating corrugated furnace body of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a second viewing angle of a heating corrugated furnace of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a structural schematic diagram of a soaking corrugated furnace of a glass strengthening furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10] 1 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of a furnace body of a single air passage of a soaking stage furnace body of a glass strengthening heating furnace according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is an analysis of the flow field of the present application. [Figure 12] 1 is an infrared transmittance curve of a glass according to an embodiment. [Figure 13] 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a porous media combustor according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a connection structure of the cooling intervening layer in FIG. [Figure 16] 15 is a schematic diagram of another connection structure of the cooling intervening layer in FIG. 14. [Explanation of symbols]

[0029] 10 Glass strengthening furnace, 20 Glass, 100...preheating stage furnace body, 101...transmission roller, 1011...first end, 1012...second end, 102...preheating stage upper furnace body, 103...preheating stage lower furnace body, 120...common smoke exhaust port, 130...smoke intake port, 131...first smoke intake port, 132...second smoke intake port, 133...third smoke intake port, 134...fourth smoke intake port, 135...fifth smoke intake port, 136...sixth smoke intake port, 140...smoke injection joint, 14 1...first smoke injection joint, 142...second smoke injection joint, 143...third smoke injection joint, 144...fourth smoke injection joint, 150...smoke injection air knife, 151...upper furnace body right side air knife, 152...upper furnace body left side air knife, 153...air knife wind outlet, 160...increaser, 161...venturi tube structure passage, 162...contraction stage, 163...gap, 164...increaser outlet, 200 heating stage furnace body, 201 heating stage upper furnace body, 202 heating stage lower furnace body, 210 infrared combustor, 2111 cover plate, 2112 air intake port, 2113 heat dissipation port, 2114 inner cylinder, 2115 premixing area, 212 cooling intervening layer, 2121 outer cylinder, 2122 cooling inlet, 2123 cooling outlet, 218 flashback prevention area, 219 combustion area, 213 heat insulating material plate, 214 porous porous medium material layer, 2151...thermocouple, 2152...thermal insulation material layer, 2153...insulation material support layer, 2154...bottom insulation face plate, 2155...pressure mechanism, 2156...bottom face plate, 2157...reinforcing rib, 2161...combustion support air duct, 2162...combustion support fan, 2163...first branch path, 2164...second branch path, 2165...air-fuel mixer, 2171...cooling water tank, 2712...hot water tank, 220...air flow agitator, 300... Soaking stage furnace body, 310... Wind path, 311... Centrifugal fan, 3121... Wind outlet stage air duct, 31211... 1st section air duct, 31212... 2nd section air duct, 3122... Wind intake stage air duct, 313... Air outlet Port, 314...Air inlet, 320...Heater, 321...Heating section, 330...Soaking stage upper furnace body, 340...Soaking stage lower furnace body, 350...Accommodating chamber, 351...Bottom wall, 352...Ceiling wall, 353...Side wall, 400 Furnace body lift device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0030] In the description of this application, the orientations or positional relationships indicated by the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "up," "down," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," "circumferential," and the like are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are intended merely to facilitate and simplify the description of this application, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to have a particular orientation or must be configured and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting this application.

[0031] In addition, features defined as "first" or "second" may include one or more of the features explicitly or implicitly, and are intended to distinguish the description of the features, without any difference in order or importance. In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two.

[0032] In the description of this application, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "attach", "connect" and "connection" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, may be a fixed connection, a removable connection, or may be integral, may be a mechanical connection, may be an electrical connection, may be a direct connection, may be an indirect connection via an intermediate medium, or may be internal communication between two elements. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application according to the specific situation.

[0033] 1 to 11, an embodiment of the present application provides a glass strengthening furnace 10 including a preheating furnace body 100, a heating furnace body 200, and a soaking furnace body 300, which are sequentially arranged along the traveling direction of glass 20.

[0034] In some embodiments of the present application, the preheater staged furnace body 100 has a feed port and a general smoke exhaust port 120 is provided proximate to the feed port.

[0035] In related technologies, the general smoke exhaust port is usually installed in the heating stage, but in the present application, the smoke exhaust port of the heating stage is moved forward to reach the position of the feed port of the preheating stage, so that the smoke moves from the heating stage to the preheating stage and becomes the source of heat for the preheating stage, while the smoke exhaust port and the heating stage are separated by a certain distance to reduce the impact of the smoke exhaust on the temperature field of the heating stage.

[0036] In some embodiments of the present application, the preheating corrugated furnace body 100 is divided into a plurality of stages along the traveling direction of the glass 20, and each stage is provided with a smoke intake port 130 and a smoke injection joint 140, and the smoke intake port 130 is configured to suck the smoke from the preheating stage. The smoke is sucked from the heating corrugated furnace body 200 through the smoke intake port 130, and the sucked smoke is sent to the preheating corrugated furnace body 100 through the smoke injection joint 140.

[0037] In the related art, smoke generated in the heating stage of a glass strengthening furnace is exhausted by providing a smoke intake at the inlet of the furnace and connecting it to a chimney on the outside, utilizing the "chimney effect."

[0038] In the present application, the preheating stage furnace body 100 is introduced in front of the heating stage furnace body 200, and the overall smoke exhaust port 120 of the entire equipment is provided at the entrance of the preheating stage. At the same time, a smoke intake port 130 is provided at each stage of the preheating stage furnace body 100 along the traveling direction of the glass 20, so that the smoke in the furnace can be sucked out from each smoke intake port 130 by using a fan, and the sucked out smoke can be sent into the furnace through the smoke injection joint 140 of each stage, thereby establishing the internal circulation of the smoke in the preheating stage furnace body 100. Therefore, the preset index that the pressure in the furnace is kept at a "slightly positive pressure" can be realized, and the overall flow of the smoke in the furnace can be realized to move from the heating stage furnace body 200 to the preheating stage furnace body 100.

[0039] In actual operation, a smoke intake port 130 is provided on each stage of the preheating stage furnace body 100, and a fan can be used to suck out the smoke from the furnace through each smoke intake port 130. In this way, the pressure in the preheating stage furnace body 100 decreases, and the pressure in the heating stage furnace body 200 becomes greater than the pressure in the preheating stage furnace body 100. The smoke in the heating stage furnace body 200 enters the preheating stage furnace body 100 due to the pressure difference. At the same time, the smoke injection joint 140 of the preheating stage furnace body 100 sends the sucked out smoke into the preheating stage furnace body 100, thereby realizing the overall flow of the smoke in the furnace moving from the heating stage furnace body 200 to the preheating stage furnace body 100 and circulating back and forth.

[0040] By providing the preheating furnace body 100, the smoke from the heating furnace body 200 is reused, while the preheating furnace body 100 is divided into multiple stages, the smoke is sucked in by the smoke intake port 130, and sent back by the smoke injection joint 140, thereby realizing a stepwise temperature rise of the glass 20 in the preheating furnace body 100. At the same time, the heat of the preheating furnace body 100 comes from the smoke of the heating furnace body 200, and the glass 20, which is a cold source, continues to enter the preheating furnace body 100, so that the temperature of the transmission roller 101 of the preheating furnace body 100 is much lower than that of the transmission roller 101 of the heating furnace body 200. In this way, deformation (upward warping) and breaking due to the large temperature difference between the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 at the beginning of entering the heating furnace caused by the temperature of the transmission roller 101 being too high can be effectively avoided.

[0041] In the present invention, a soaking corrugated furnace body 300 is provided after the heating corrugated furnace body 200 to further improve the temperature uniformity on the surface of the glass 20 during the heating step, thereby meeting the higher standard of uniformity requirements and further improving the tempering quality of the glass 20. In particular, this is more applicable to the tempering requirements of coated glass and Low-E glass, which have high standard of uniformity requirements.

[0042] In the conventional glass strengthening furnaces in the related art, it is necessary to solve the problem of upward warping and shaking caused by uneven heat received by the glass in the initial stage in the heating stage. The glass strengthening furnace 10 of the present application is completely different from the conventional glass strengthening furnaces in the related art. The preheating stage furnace body 100 is installed separately, and the smoke from the heating stage is used as the heat source. The preheating stage is installed separately, and the temperature of the ceramic roller bar in the preheating stage is lowered, and the glass 20 is preheated in the form of forced convection, thereby solving the problem of warping and shaking caused by uneven heat received by the glass 20 in the initial stage.

[0043] In some embodiments of the present application, the preheating stage furnace body 100 is divided into three stages along the traveling direction of the glass 20. The preheating stage furnace body 100 is divided into a preheating stage upper furnace body 102 and a preheating stage lower furnace body 103. The preheating stage upper furnace body 102 is provided above the transmission roller 101, and the preheating stage lower furnace body 103 is provided below the transmission roller 101.

[0044] 2 and 3, the preheating stage furnace body 100 is divided into a total of six stages, including the "upper 1#" stage and the "lower 1#" stage, the "upper 2#" stage and the "lower 2#" stage, and the "upper 3#" stage and the "lower 3#" stage. Each of the six stages is provided with a smoke intake port 130 on the furnace body, and a fan is used to suck out the smoke from inside the furnace. The sucked out smoke is then sent into the furnace through the smoke injection joint 140 of each stage, thereby establishing an internal circulation of the smoke inside the preheating stage furnace body 100.

[0045] 2 and 3, in the preheating stage furnace body 100, a first smoke exhaust port 131 is provided on the top 1# stage, a second smoke exhaust port 132 is provided on the bottom 1# stage, a third smoke exhaust port 133 is provided on the top 2# stage, a fourth smoke exhaust port 134 is provided on the bottom 2# stage, a fifth smoke exhaust port 135 is provided on the top 3# stage, and a sixth smoke exhaust port 136 is provided on the bottom 3# stage.

[0046] In one embodiment, taking the top 1# stage as an example, the first smoke intake 131 of the stage is connected to the intake of the smoke suction fan, the smoke in the furnace is sucked out by the fan, and divided into two by a pipe, and each is sent to the first smoke injection joint 141 and the second smoke injection joint 142 of the top 1# stage. Similarly, the second smoke intake 132 provided on the bottom 1# stage is connected to the intake of the smoke suction fan, the smoke in the furnace is sucked out by the fan, and divided into two by a pipe, and each is sent to the third smoke injection joint 143 and the fourth smoke injection joint 144 of the bottom 1# stage.

[0047] In some embodiments of the present application, in the preheating corrugated furnace body 100, a plurality of smoke injection air knives 150 are provided on the upper and lower sides of the transmission roller 101 along the traveling direction of the glass 20, respectively, and the upper and lower plurality of smoke injection air knives 150 and the plurality of transmission rollers 101 are arranged offset in the height direction, and the smoke injection joint 140 is configured to send the sucked smoke to the plurality of smoke injection air knives 150.

[0048] 2 to 4, in the illustrated embodiment, six stages in the preheating stage furnace body 100, namely the "upper 1#" stage and the "lower 1#" stage, the "upper 2#" stage and the "lower 2#" stage, and the "upper 3#" stage and the "lower 3#" stage, are all provided with a plurality of smoke injection air knives 150.

[0049] In some embodiments of the present application, the air knife outlets 153 of the plurality of smoke injection air knives 150 have a constricted aperture.

[0050] In some embodiments of the present application, a volume expander 160 is provided within the preheating stage furnace body 100, and the volume expander 160 has a Venturi-type passage 161 that is connected to the air knife air outlet 153 of the smoke injection air knife 150.

[0051] 6 and 11, the intensifier 160 is provided with a passage 161 having a Venturi tube structure, which generates a Venturi effect, forms an "increasing" effect, and increases the amount of air blown onto the glass 20. The intensifier 160 installed in the present application has undergone simulation analysis of the flow field and actual experimental verification, and significantly enhances the heating effect.

[0052] In the related art, the smoke injection structure generally adopts the "circular hole offset arrangement type" and the "slit type" smoke injection structure, but in this application, a structure with an "increasing" effect is creatively developed, which increases the amount of smoke injected and further improves the heating efficiency.

[0053] Illustratively, referring to FIG. 5-FIG. 6, in the illustrated embodiment, the "increasing" structure of smoke injection in the preheating corrugated furnace body 100 is as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. In the empty furnace heating stage, the transmission roller 101 in the furnace is in a cold state, and in order to avoid directly injecting hot smoke onto the surface of the transmission roller 101, the smoke injection air knife 150 does not blow directly onto the transmission roller 101, but is offset and blows into the gap between the transmission rollers 101. As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the internal structure of the preheating corrugated furnace body 100 mainly includes the transmission roller 101, the upper furnace body right air knife 151, the upper furnace body left air knife 152, and the increaser 160. The glass 20 moves from left to right with the rotation of the transmission roller 101. The fan sucks the smoke from each furnace and sends the preheated smoke to the smoke injection air knife 150 through the smoke injection joint 140 outside the furnace. The smoke injection air knife 150 is specially designed and contracts at the air knife outlet 153, and an intensifier 160 is installed at a preset distance from the air knife outlet 153 of each smoke injection air knife 150. The intensifier 160 is specially designed to form an "increase" effect, increasing the amount of air blown onto the glass 20, and is verified through simulation analysis of the flow field and actual experimentation. The application of the intensifier 160 greatly enhances the heating effect.

[0054] In one embodiment, referring to Fig. 6, the smoke injected from the smoke injection air knife 150 increases in flow velocity when passing through the contraction stage 162 of the intensifier 160, forming a low-pressure area. Due to the action of the low-pressure area, the smoke existing in the preheating stage furnace body 100 is sucked into the intensifier 160 through the gap 163 between the smoke injection air knife 150 and the intensifier 160. The two smoke flows merge at the intensifier outlet 164 and are injected onto the heat-receiving surface of the glass 20. Thus, for the same smoke fan power, a greater smoke injection effect is achieved on the heat-receiving surface of the glass 20.

[0055] In some embodiments of the present application, the heating corrugated furnace body 200 is provided behind the preheating corrugated furnace body 100 along the traveling direction of the glass 20 .

[0056] 7 and 8, in some embodiments of the present application, the heating stage furnace body 200 is divided into a heating stage upper furnace body 201 and a heating stage lower furnace body 202. The heating stage upper furnace body 201 is disposed above the transmission roller 101, and the heating stage lower furnace body 202 is disposed below the transmission roller 101.

[0057] In some embodiments of the present application, the heated stage furnace body 200 is provided with a plurality of infrared combustors 210 which are porous media combustors.

[0058] The heating corrugated furnace body 200 of the present application adopts porous medium combustion technology mainly using infrared radiation, and has three types of heat exchange methods, namely, convection, heat conduction and radiation, which can make the temperature of the combustion area 219 uniform and maintain a steady temperature gradient. In addition to adopting porous medium combustion technology mainly using infrared radiation, the heating corrugated furnace body 200 of the present application also establishes a wide wavelength infrared heating stage to realize rapid and uniform heating of glass. Therefore, the glass strengthening furnace of the present application is not only applicable to the strengthening of ordinary glass, but also particularly applicable to the strengthening requirements of coated glass and Low-E glass.

[0059] Porous media combustion technology has stable combustion and high volumetric heat release rate. Compared with free combustion, porous media combustion has the advantages of high combustion speed, good combustion stability, wide load adjustment range, high volumetric heat release rate, small combustor volume, good gas adaptability, low pollutant emissions in the smoke, wide combustion limit, and the ability to burn and use gas with low calorific value.

[0060] In this field, the heating furnace in the related art is the combustion of gaseous fuel, and the combustion is mainly characterized by free flame. Such combustion requires a large space, and the temperature gradient around the flame is large, so local high temperatures are likely to occur. When the temperature is higher than 1500°C, the generation of NOx (nitrogen oxides) becomes significant. Due to the toxicity of NOx (nitrogen oxides), the reduction of NOx emissions is also very important.

[0061] The heating stage furnace body 200 of the present application adopts a porous medium combustion furnace to greatly improve the combustion effect, compared with the combustion of the conventional free flame characteristics of the heating furnace in the related art. In the combustion process, the porous medium plays a key role. The porous medium material has excellent heat transfer properties, and the gas is forced to flow in and out, separate and merge, resulting in strong convection, which can uniformly distribute the temperature therein and maintain a low temperature level, reduce the emission of pollutants, has a small bulk density, i.e., small thermal inertia, can be heated quickly at start-up, and can rapidly adapt to changes in load. It has the characteristics of being able to operate in a temperature range of 800 to 1200 degrees Celsius.

[0062] In some embodiments of the present application, the infrared combustor 210 of the heating stage furnace body 200 uses a porous medium material as the main combustion component, and burns gas with the porous medium material. The porous medium material of the present application is selected as SiC, and the emissivity of the SiC material is about 0.9, which is much higher than the emissivity of general metal alloy heating materials, and the radiative heating effect is better. The infrared combustor 210 of the heating stage furnace body 200 of the present application further improves the heating effect by adopting SiC as the porous medium material.

[0063] The heating corrugated furnace body 200 of the present application employs an infrared combustor 210 with "porous media combustion" technology at its core.

[0064] In some embodiments of the present application, a plurality of infrared combustors 210 are disposed in the heating corrugated furnace body 200 along the traveling direction of the glass 20, shifted above and below the transmission roller 101.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 7, in the illustrated embodiment, within the heating stage furnace body 200, each infrared combustor 210 in the heating stage upper furnace body and each infrared combustor 210 in the heating stage lower furnace body are offset from each other in the traveling direction of the glass 20.

[0066] In the heating corrugated furnace body 200, a plurality of infrared combustors 210 are disposed above and below the transmission roller 101 along the traveling direction of the glass 20, so that the uniformity of heating can be improved.

[0067] In some embodiments of the present application, an airflow agitator 220 is further provided in the heating corrugated furnace body 200, and the airflow agitator 220 is provided at a distance from the infrared combustor 210 along the traveling direction of the glass 20.

[0068] The drawback of infrared radiation is that it cannot guarantee uniform radiation over the entire surface of the object, so that the surface that needs to be heated will be formed with a projection of the intensity distribution of the infrared radiation source. Therefore, the present application provides an airflow agitator 220 in the heating corrugated furnace body 200 in cooperation with the infrared burner 210, and the airflow agitator 220 and the infrared burner 210 are provided at a distance from each other, so that the airflow agitator 220 can agitate the smoke in the furnace, avoiding the high-temperature smoke from concentrating locally in the furnace and causing the furnace temperature to become uneven, while the agitated smoke flows on the surface of the glass 20 at a preset speed, increasing the convection heat transfer.

[0069] In one embodiment, referring to Figures 7 and 8, in the illustrated embodiment, the body structure of the heating corrugated furnace body 200 is such that the infrared combustors 210 are arranged offset in the traveling direction of the glass 20 to avoid uneven temperature field caused by heat concentration, as shown in Figures 7 and 8. From the viewpoint of temperature control, the heating corrugated furnace body 200 is divided into four areas, and an air flow agitator 220 is provided for each area. From the plan view of Figure 8, the infrared combustors 210 are arranged separately on both sides in the width direction of the furnace.

[0070] In some embodiments of the present application, a plurality of air ducts 310 are provided in the soaking corrugated furnace body 300, and the plurality of air ducts 310 are configured to generate horizontal and parallel airflows on the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20. Specifically, the soaking corrugated furnace body 300 includes a receiving chamber 350 and an air duct 310. In one embodiment, a transmission roller 101 is provided on a bottom wall 351 of the receiving chamber 350, and the transmission roller 101 is configured to transmit the glass 20.

[0071] Glass "strengthening" includes the processes of "heating" and "cooling". If the temperature uniformity of the glass surface is not well guaranteed before the glass enters the quenching process, the glass will have serious quality problems during the quenching process.

[0072] As mentioned in the background art, in the related art, a forced convection is generally provided in the heating stage. In this manner, when the glass is in a high-temperature softened state, the airflow with a certain speed and pressure forms a "pattern" on the surface of the softened glass. In the present application, a heat-soaking stage is provided and a horizontal and parallel airflow is constructed in the heat-soaking stage, thereby solving this problem.

[0073] Besides the above drawbacks, forced convection also has a serious effect on the porous media combustor due to the high velocity air currents in the furnace compared to direct gas combustion heating.

[0074] The thermal conductivity of glass is low. In order to complete the uniformity of the glass temperature within a given time under the premise of satisfying the production capacity, it is necessary to consider ways to increase the convection heat exchange efficiency / capacity. For the uniform heating technology of air flow, in order to ensure the uniformity of the product temperature, (1) The airflow is sufficiently turbulent. (2) One of two conditions must be met: the airflow must be sufficiently horizontal.

[0075] A strong fan is required to ensure a sufficiently turbulent airflow, and such an airflow is detrimental to the stability of the lightweight glass transmission roller 101. Furthermore, the heat-insulating material in the furnace and the impurities present in the furnace chamber will be enveloped by the turbulent airflow and spread over the entire surface of the furnace chamber and the glass, causing uncontrollable problems in the surface quality of the glass.

[0076] In this application, the "horizontal and parallel airflow" forced convection soaking corrugated furnace body 300 introduced after the heating corrugated furnace body 200 corresponds to the final heating and temperature adjustment process, and the power required is much smaller than that of the heating stage, which requires that the power output of the heater 320 responds quickly and can be continuously adjusted. In this application, the heat source of the soaking corrugated furnace body 300 is an electric heating accumulation box, and the electric heating accumulation box is entirely pushed into the air duct.

[0077] In some embodiments of the present application, referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the soaking stage furnace body 300 is divided into a total of multiple stages, for example, four stages in the drawings, and each stage is provided with an independent air duct 310.

[0078] In one embodiment, four stages of air ducts 310 are respectively arranged in the accommodation chamber 350, and the air ducts 310 have air outlets 313 and air inlets 314. The air outlets 313 are arranged above and below the transmission rollers 101, and are arranged at the first end 1011 of the transmission roller 101 along the radial direction of the transmission roller 101, so that the air blown out from the air outlets 313 reaches the first end 1011 of the transmission roller 101, is blown out from the gaps between adjacent transmission rollers 101, and blows through the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 parallel to the transmission roller 101.

[0079] In one embodiment, the wind inlets 314 are provided above and below the transmission roller 101 and are close to the second end 1012 of the transmission roller 101, and are configured to suck in the wind blowing over the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20.

[0080] In the heat-soaking corrugated furnace body 300 of the present application, the wind blown out from the air outlet 313 reaches the first end 1011 of the transmission roller 101, is blown out from the gap between the adjacent transmission rollers 101, and blows through the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 in parallel with the transmission rollers 101, thereby horizontally and parallelly brushing against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 and completing heat exchange with the glass 20. Such a horizontal and parallel heat-soaking method can greatly improve the problem of uneven heating temperature on the surface of the workpiece.

[0081] In some embodiments of the present application, the air duct 310 includes a centrifugal fan 311 and an air duct body, and the centrifugal fan 311 rotates to suck in air, and the air flows in the air duct body and is blown out from the gap between the transmission rollers 101, and is horizontally and parallel to the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20, and is swung out to complete heat exchange with the glass 20. In one embodiment, the air duct body includes an air intake section air duct 3122 and an air outlet section air duct 3121, and the first end of the air outlet section air duct 3121 is connected to the outlet of the centrifugal fan 311 and the second end is provided with an air outlet 313, and the first end of the air intake section air duct 3122 is connected to the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311 and the second end is provided with an air intake port 314.

[0082] The first end of the air outlet duct 3121 is connected to the outlet of the centrifugal fan 311, and the second end has an air outlet 313. When the centrifugal fan 311 rotates at high speed, the air is sucked in from the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311, swung out tangentially into the air outlet duct 3121, flows in the air outlet duct 3121, and reaches the air outlet 313. The air blown out from the air outlet 313 reaches the first end 1011 of the transmission roller 101, collides with the side wall surface of the first end 1011, changes direction, and blows out from the gap between the adjacent transmission rollers 101, and blows through the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 in parallel with the transmission rollers 101, thereby realizing the horizontal and parallel heating of the workpiece.

[0083] 9 and 10, in the embodiment illustrated in the present application, the above-mentioned accommodating chamber 350 has a hexahedral shape. The transmission rollers 101 are disposed above a bottom wall 351, and the centrifugal fan 311 is disposed on a top wall 352. The inlet of the centrifugal fan 311 is located at the bottom of the centrifugal fan 311, and when the transmission rollers 101 transmit the workpiece, the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311 is located above the workpiece.

[0084] In one embodiment, the air outlet stage air duct 3121 comprises a first partial air duct 31211 and a second partial air duct 31212, the first partial air duct 31211 is arranged parallel to the transmission roller 101, the second partial air duct 31212 is arranged perpendicular to the transmission roller 101, and the air outlet 313 is arranged on a side wall surface of the second partial air duct 31212 close to the first end 1011 of the transmission roller 101.

[0085] In one embodiment, referring to Figures 9 and 10, in the embodiment illustrated in the present application, the first partial air duct 31211 is provided in the ceiling wall 352 facing the transmission roller 101, and the second partial air duct 31212 is provided in the side wall 353 of the storage chamber 350.

[0086] In one embodiment, the first partial air duct 31211 has a first end communicating with the outlet of the centrifugal fan 311 and a second end connected to the inlet of the second partial air duct 31212, and the second end of the second partial air duct 31212 is the air outlet 313.

[0087] In one embodiment, in the illustrated embodiment, the first partial air duct 31211 and the second partial air duct 31212 are rectangular air ducts.

[0088] In some embodiments, the first partial air duct 31211 has a first end communicating with the outlet of the centrifugal fan 311 that is relatively small in size and a second end that is relatively large in size, so that the first partial air duct 31211 has an approximately horn shape. The size of the internal passage of the second partial air duct 31212 is selected and set according to the overall length of the soaking stage furnace body 300, and the size of the internal passage of the second partial air duct 31212 determines the coverage width of the blown air, i.e., the width of the workpieces that are blown through.

[0089] In some embodiments of the present application, the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311 is located below the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311 .

[0090] In some embodiments of the present application, the soaking corrugated furnace body 300 further includes a heater 320 configured to heat the wind after heat exchange to a preset temperature, and the heater 320 is provided below the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311, so that the wind sucked in by the rotation of the impeller first passes through the heater 320 before entering the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311. The wind blowing over the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece completes heat exchange with the workpiece, at which point the temperature of the wind drops, and the wind can be heated again to the preset temperature via the heater 320.

[0091] In one embodiment, the temperature distribution of the air heated by the heater 320 as described above is non-uniform, but in the present invention, the air heated by the heater 320 is sucked back into the centrifugal fan 311, and the non-uniform air after being heated by the heater 320 is sufficiently stirred and dispersed by the stirring action of the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311, thereby achieving temperature uniformity. The uniformed air is again sent into the air duct 310 by the high-speed rotation of the centrifugal fan 311 to uniformly heat the workpieces, thus achieving circulation and uniform heating, which is advantageous for energy saving and emission reduction.

[0092] 9 and 10, in the embodiment illustrated in the present application, the heater 320 is provided on a side wall 353 of the accommodation chamber 350 facing the second partial air duct 31212.

[0093] In some embodiments of the present application, the wind intake stage air duct 3122 of the soaking stage furnace body 300 has a first end connected to the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311 and a second end provided with the wind intake port 314 described above.

[0094] In some embodiments of the present application, the heating section 321 of the heater 320 is placed in the wind intake stage duct 3122 .

[0095] By placing the heating part 321 of the heater 320 inside the wind intake stage air duct 3122, the wind blowing past the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 is heated by the heating part 321 of the heater 320 while passing through the wind intake stage air duct 3122, thereby improving heating efficiency and reducing energy consumption.

[0096] The first end of the air intake stage duct 3122 is connected to the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311, and the second end is provided with the above-mentioned air intake port 314, so that the air blowing over the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 passes through the air intake stage duct 3122 and reaches the inlet of the centrifugal fan 311, where it is sucked into the centrifugal fan 311, stirred again, and circulated to be heated uniformly.

[0097] In some embodiments of the present application, the soaking corrugated furnace body 300 includes a plurality of air ducts 310, and the plurality of air ducts 310 are provided at intervals along the transmission direction of the workpieces.

[0098] In the illustrated embodiment, referring to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the soaking stage furnace body 300 has a total of four independently controlled air ducts, which are the first air duct, the second air duct, the third air duct, and the fourth air duct of the soaking stage. The cross section of the soaking stage furnace body in the width direction of a single air duct is as shown in FIG. 10. The centrifugal fan 311 rotates at high speed, and the air is sucked in from the opening at the bottom of the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311 and swung out in the tangential direction. The air flows in the air duct body, is blown out from the gap between the adjacent transmission rollers 101, and horizontally and parallelly brushes against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20, and the air blown out from the air duct of each stage covers the surface of the glass 20 that has passed through the stage, and can complete the heat exchange with the glass 20. The temperature of the air that has completed the heat exchange drops to a certain degree, and reaches a predetermined temperature again by heating the heater 320 in the soaking stage furnace body 300. In reality, the temperature distribution of the air after being heated by the heater 320 in the soaking corrugated furnace body 300 is non-uniform, and such non-uniform air should not be blown directly onto the glass 20. In this application, the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311 also has a stirring function, which sufficiently stirs and disperses the non-uniform air after being heated by the heater 320 in the soaking corrugated furnace body 300, thereby achieving temperature uniformity. The uniformed air is sent back into the air duct body to complete the heating of the glass 20 and the uniformity of the temperature.

[0099] In some embodiments of the present application, the soaking stage furnace body 300 is divided into an upper soaking stage furnace body 330 and a lower soaking stage furnace body 340, and the upper soaking stage furnace body 330 is disposed above the transmission roller 101, and the lower soaking stage furnace body 340 is disposed below the transmission roller 101.

[0100] The preheating furnace body 100, the heating furnace body 200 and the soaking furnace body 300 are arranged in two layers, one above the other, to facilitate installation or removal of the transmission rollers 101 and maintenance of the equipment. In one embodiment, the transmission rollers 101 can be ceramic rollers, which are commonly used in the art.

[0101] In some embodiments of the present application, the above preheating stage furnace body 100, heating stage furnace body 200 and soaking stage furnace body 300 are each provided with a furnace body lifting device 400, which is connected to the upper stage furnace body and configured to lift the upper stage furnace body.

[0102] In some embodiments of the present application, a glass strengthening method is provided in which the glass strengthening furnace 10 according to any of the above-described embodiments is employed to strengthen glass.

[0103] In some embodiments of the present application, employing the glass strengthening furnace 10 according to any of the above-described embodiments to strengthen the glass 20 includes the following steps: In S1, glass 20 is laid flat in a single layer on a material placement table manually (or by an automated device), and products are arranged. In S2, the glass 20 is moved by the transmission roller 101 so as to enter the preheating stage furnace 100, and the preheating of the product is completed in the preheating stage furnace 100 (the temperature is controlled within a certain range); In S3, the glass 20 starts to enter the heating stage furnace body 200, and the temperature of the product rises to 600°C to 640°C. After reaching the set temperature, the glass 20 continues to operate at the set temperature; In S4, the glass 20 enters the heating corrugated furnace body 300 from the heating corrugated furnace body 200, and the circulating gas brushes against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20, heating and equalizing the temperature of the glass 20. After completing heat exchange with the glass 20, which is in a relatively low temperature state and has a non-uniform temperature, the gas is circulated to the heater 320, where it is heated and supplemented. The strong stirring of the impeller of the centrifugal fan 311 equalizes the temperature of the non-uniform gas. The centrifugal fan 311 and the air duct 310 blow the gas against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass 20 again.

[0104] The beneficial effect of the glass strengthening method of the present application is that since the glass strengthening heating furnace described above is used to strengthen the glass, the glass can be heated rapidly and uniformly, and the method is not only applicable to the strengthening of ordinary glass, but is particularly applicable to the strengthening of coated glass and Low-E glass.

[0105] Once the glass has been heated and homogenized, it can proceed to the next step.

[0106] 13-16, the porous media combustor described above will now be described in detail.

[0107] First, the analysis shows that the main reasons restricting the application of porous media combustors to high temperature fields are as follows:

[0108] (1) Compared with medium and low temperatures, the "background radiation" of the furnace chamber due to high furnace temperatures is considerably large. According to knowledge related to radiation, radiation is related to the fourth power of temperature, and the background radiation capacity of a furnace temperature of 1000°C is nearly six times that of a furnace temperature of 650°C. During the heat transfer process in the furnace, the burner, as a high-temperature heat source, transfers heat to the furnace chamber in the form of "thermal convection" and "radiation", and the furnace chamber also generates background radiation toward the burner, which increases with the rise in furnace temperature. At high temperatures, even if the metal skeleton of the burner is made of heat-resistant alloy material, the metal will undergo the "creep" phenomenon, and such deformation is irreversible.

[0109] (2) The structure of a porous media combustor usually adopts the form of "heat-resistant metal framework + insulating material support" to "constrain" the porous media within the combustor. The design of this structure determines that the heat of the high furnace temperature is transmitted along the metal framework of the combustor. As a result, the temperature of the metal wall surface of the premixing chamber into which the mixed combustion gas of the combustor is injected is too high, and there is a risk of flashback.

[0110] Therefore, for combustors developed based on the porous media combustion technology in the related art, the part facing the furnace chamber is usually a metal skeleton, which will show different degrees of deformation after long-term operation, and the metal skeleton of such combustors will have serious consequences especially when facing high temperature environments, so that the combustor cannot be applied to high furnace temperature environments. In order to solve the application limitations of the porous media combustors in the related art that they can only be applied to medium and low furnace temperatures and are mostly concentrated in low temperature fields and to expand the application range to high temperature fields, the present application provides a porous media combustor applied to high furnace temperature environments, and protects the structure with the original cooling function of the metal skeleton through the design of the relevant structure.

[0111] In addition, due to the constraints imposed by the characteristics of the two types of combustion, namely "premixed combustion" and "porous media combustion", in the related art, the power adjustment ratio of the porous media combustor (the ratio between the maximum power and the minimum power at which the combustor operates stably) is generally fixed or has a narrow adjustment range, that is, the gas flow rate is fixed and does not change, which also limits the application of the combustor.

[0112] In the related art, the manner and features of realizing power regulation based on the thermal equipment of the porous media combustor are as follows:

[0113] (1) A certain amount of air is required to burn gas, and the air-fuel ratio is the ratio of air to gas, which is usually fixed. Although the power of a single combustor can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of air (adjusting the air-fuel ratio) in a small range, the fluctuation range of the power output of the combustor is very narrow, and lowering the amount of air will cause incomplete combustion of the gas, which will result in the production of toxic CO gas.

[0114] (2) The heater group is composed of multiple combustor modules, and the opening and closing of the combustor modules realizes the output of the same amount of power as the entire heater group. However, the temperature distribution of a single heater group is not uniform, which leads to the temperature distribution of the thermal equipment being not uniform, and it is not possible to create a uniform temperature field.

[0115] Therefore, in order to solve the problems of fixed power and extremely small power adjustment ratio of the combustor in the related art, it is necessary to realize the improvement of the adjustment ability of the combustor from the aspect of the combustor's own design.

[0116] The infrared combustor 210 of this embodiment comprises a housing, which has a chamber, and an intake port 2112 and a heat dissipation port 2113 communicating with the chamber. The direction from the intake port 2112 to the heat dissipation port 2113 is the intake direction. In the chamber, a premixing area 2115, a flashback prevention area 218, and a combustion area 219 are arranged in that order along the intake direction.

[0117] The housing includes an inner cylinder 2114 and a cover plate 2111 having an intake port 2112, the intake port 2112 is configured to input a mixture of combustion air and gas, the number of the intake port 2112 may be one or more, for example, two or three, the cover plate 2111 is installed to cover one end of the inner cylinder 2114, and forms a chamber together with the inner cylinder 2114. In this embodiment, the housing is made of a metal material, the space inside the inner cylinder 2114 is cylindrical, the housing and the cover plate 2111 are rectangular, the intake port 2112 is one in number and is located at the center of the cover plate 2111, and the inner cylinder 2114 and the cover plate 2111 are fastened and connected in the form of a flange + seal gasket.

[0118] The main role of the premixing area 2115 is to remix and disperse the mixed combustion gas of gas and air entering from the inlet 2112, so that the mixed combustion gas is further mixed and dispersed evenly before entering the flashback prevention area 218. A gas dispersion plate with gas dispersion holes is provided in the premixing area 2115, the gas dispersion plate is connected to the housing, and the orthogonal projection of the inlet 2112 is located on the gas dispersion plate. In this embodiment, the orthogonal projection is the projection along the intake direction, and the orthogonal projection of the inlet 2112 is located in the center of the gas dispersion plate. After passing through the gas dispersion holes of the gas dispersion plate, the mixed combustion gas can be uniformly dispersed in the premixing area 2115, and then uniformly pass through the gas passage of the thermal insulation material layer to be distributed in the porous medium material layer 214, so that the mixed combustion gas can be uniformly burned in the porous medium material layer 214, and the uniformity of combustion and heating can be enhanced.

[0119] The main role of the flashback prevention area 218 is to separate the premixing area 2115 and the combustion area 219 to prevent flashback, and the flashback prevention area 218 is filled with a heat insulating material layer having a gas passage, which further mixes and distributes the mixed combustion gas from the premixing area 2115 evenly, and then transports it to the combustion area 219 for combustion, and the heat insulating material layer has a gas passage and a thickness of 100mm to 200mm along the intake direction. Usually, the heat insulating material layer is made of at least two layers of heat insulating material plates 213 arranged overlapping along the intake direction, and the thickness of the single layer of heat insulating material plate 213 is 50mm to 100mm, and the gas passages of any two adjacent layers of heat insulating material plates 213 are connected to each other to form a complete gas passage. In this embodiment, the insulation material layer is composed of two layers of insulation material plates 213, and the gas passages of the two layers of insulation material plates 213 are correspondingly connected to form a complete gas passage, which is provided through the insulation material layer along the intake direction and is located in the central region of the insulation material layer.

[0120] The through holes are machined in the thickness direction of the insulating material layer, so that the premixed gas can penetrate into the porous medium material through the through holes. The through holes need to achieve uniform distribution of the gas flow, while the diameter and number of the holes (corresponding to the total area of ​​the holes) need to satisfy the relevant combustion regulations. In the embodiment of the present application, the porosity of the gas passages for the insulating material layer is 1% to 5%.

[0121] The heat insulating layer is made of a fire-resistant material, such as a ceramic plate, that can withstand temperatures of 900°C to 1400°C, and can be selected according to actual needs, and is not limited here. The diameter of the gas passage of the heat insulating layer is 1.5mm to 4mm, and is not limited thereto, but is specifically 3mm in this embodiment, and the depth-to-diameter ratio (depth / diameter) of the gas passage is large, generally 30 to 80:1, which enhances the effect of preventing flashback.

[0122] When the depth-diameter ratio of the gas passage of the insulating material layer of the flashback prevention area 218 is sufficiently large, the gas and air can be synchronously reduced or increased to adjust the power of the combustor. The large depth-diameter ratio does not need to worry about the occurrence of flashback phenomenon, and can increase the pressure of the mixed combustion gas and make the gas flow rate higher than the flame propagation speed, while at the same time taking into consideration high combustion efficiency and low pollution emissions.

[0123] The main function of the combustion area 219 is combustion, and a porous medium material layer 214 is provided in the combustion area 219, and the gas passage of the heat insulating material layer communicates with the premixing area 2115 and the porous medium material layer 214, and the porous medium material layer 214 is configured to receive and burn the mixed combustion gas mixed and dispersed from the heat insulating material layer, and the temperature of the back surface (the surface in contact with the premixing area 2115) of the heat insulating material layer should be lower than the ignition point of the gas. In this embodiment, the porous medium material layer 214 is disposed in the central region of the heat insulating material layer, and the porous medium material layer 214 has a combustion surface facing the heat dissipation port 2113 and configured to output smoke and heat, and the combustion surface and the heat dissipation port 2113 are spaced apart from each other by a certain distance. An insulating material support layer 2153 configured to support an insulating material is provided at a position (combustion area 219) near the heat dissipation port 2113 in the chamber, and the insulating material support layer 2153 has a heat dissipation passage corresponding to the porous medium material layer 214, and the heat dissipation passage is connected to the heat dissipation port 2113.

[0124] The material of the porous medium material layer 214 includes, but is not limited to, silicon carbide (SiC). The emissivity of SiC is about 0.9, which is much higher than the emissivity of general metal alloy heating materials, and has a better radiative heating effect. Of course, other fire-resistant materials can also be used, and are not limited here. The structure includes, but is not limited to, a foam structure, a honeycomb structure, an array structure, etc.

[0125] The porosity of the porous medium material layer 214 is 50% to 90%, and based on this, the thickness of the porous medium material layer 214 is controlled to be 15 mm to 30 mm.

[0126] Control over the key data of the insulation material layer, porous media material layer 214, allows the combustor tuning ratio to range from very low to high, ranging from 1 to 5:1.

[0127] According to the above, the background radiation of the furnace chamber is quite strong under high furnace temperature conditions, which means that the radiated power of the furnace chamber to the combustor is also considerable. When the radiated power of this part is reflected to the combustor, the surface of the combustor facing the furnace chamber receives high temperature and heat input. The housing of the combustor is often made of heat-resistant steel, and due to the good thermal conductivity of steel, it is determined that the heat is rapidly transferred to the metal skeleton of the entire combustor. Even if the metal skeleton of the combustor is made of heat-resistant alloy material, the metal will undergo a "creep" phenomenon under high temperature conditions, and such deformation is irreversible. In addition, the high temperature environment will also weaken the insulation effect of the flashback prevention area 218, and thus the flashback prevention effect. Therefore, the overall temperature of the housing (metal skeleton) and the flashback prevention area 218 should be settled at a controlled level.

[0128] In order to control the temperature of the entire housing, a cooling intervening layer 212 containing a cooling medium is provided on the outer periphery of the housing of the infrared combustor 210, and the cooling intervening layer 212 is surrounded by at least a part of the premixing area 2115, a part of the flashback prevention area 218, and a part of the combustion area 219. In one embodiment, an outer cylinder 2121 is fitted on the outer periphery of the inner cylinder 2114, and the cooling intervening layer 212 is formed between the inner cylinder 2114 and the outer cylinder 2121. In this embodiment, the inner cylinder 2114 and the outer cylinder 2121 are each cylindrical, and the outer cylinder 2121 encloses most of the premixing area 2115 of the inner cylinder 2114, the entire area of ​​the flashback prevention area 218, and most of the combustion area 219, but not only the areas located at the top and bottom ends of the inner cylinder 2114, and both ends of the outer cylinder 2121 are welded to the inner cylinder 2114 via sealing plates.

[0129] According to the working process of the combustor, the mixed air and gas obtained before entering the combustor or the mixed air and gas in the premixing area 2115 stays in the premixing area 2115 for a while, and then enters the porous media material layer 214 through the gas passage of the insulating material layer to be combusted. As a container of combustible gas, the premixing area 2115 must ensure that the temperature at any one point in the premixing area 2115 cannot be too high, otherwise a combustion phenomenon, i.e. flashback, will occur in the premixing area 2115.

[0130] In order to timely lower the temperature of the premixing area 2115 , the cooling intervening layer 212 is provided with a cooling inlet 2122 and a cooling outlet 2123 for the cooling medium, and the cooling inlet 2122 and the cooling outlet 2123 are adjacent to the air intake 2112 .

[0131] The present application selects and uses different cooling media according to different furnace temperature needs. In one embodiment, the furnace temperature is required to be below 700°C, and gas is used as the cooling media. Referring to FIG. 15, the infrared combustor 210 further includes an auxiliary air pipe 2161 communicating with the intake port 2112, the auxiliary air pipe 2161 is connected to the air-fuel mixer 2165 through the auxiliary fan 2162, and is configured to inject the air in the auxiliary air pipe 2161 into the air-fuel mixer 2165, and the gas is also injected into the air-fuel mixer 2165 for mixing, and the obtained premixed gas enters the chamber of the combustor through the intake port 2112, and is mixed with the auxiliary air pipe 2161 and the cooling inlet 2122. are connected via a first branch passage 2163, and the supporting air pipe 2161 and the cooling outlet 2123 are connected via a second branch passage 2164. The connection points of the first branch passage 2163 and the second branch passage 2164 and the supporting air pipe 2161 are located between the supporting combustion fan 2162 and the air-fuel mixer 2165, and the connection point of the second branch passage 2164 and the supporting air pipe 2161 is closer to the air-fuel mixer 2165 and the intake port 2112 than the connection point of the first branch passage 2163 and the supporting air pipe 2161. The low-temperature auxiliary combustion air passes through the first branch passage 2163 and enters the cooling inlet 2122, and exchanges heat with the inner cylinder 2114 in the cooling intervening layer 212. The heated auxiliary combustion air passes through the cooling outlet 2123 and is discharged to the second branch passage 2164. Since the connection point between the second branch passage 2164 and the auxiliary combustion air pipe 2161 is closer to the air-fuel mixer 2165, the heated auxiliary combustion air enters the air-fuel mixer 2165, and preheating of the gas can be achieved during the air-fuel mixing process.

[0132] In one embodiment, when the furnace temperature is required to be 700°C to 1150°C, if the furnace temperature is in the high temperature range above 1000°C, a liquid cooling technical means should be adopted, and the cooling medium can be selected from water or oil, to realize the stabilization control of the overall temperature of the combustor housing. Referring to FIG. 16, the structure of the air-fuel mixer 2165 and the like maintains the function of forming a premixture and injecting it into the combustor, and the infrared combustor 210 further includes a cooling water tank 2171 and a hot water tank 2712, the cooling water tank 2171 communicates with the cooling inlet 2122, and the hot water tank 2712 communicates with the cooling outlet 2123.

[0133] During the operation of the combustor, due to the difference in thermal conductivity of the materials, the heat of the heat insulating plate 213 is transferred to the inner cylinder 2114, and the cooling medium in the cooling intervening layer 212 cools the inner cylinder 2114, so that the housing of the combustor is prevented from being deformed due to high temperature. At the same time, the difficulty in realizing a high adjustment ratio is to prevent flashback when the flow rate of the mixed combustion gas is low, and the flow rate of the mixed combustion gas must always be higher than the flame propagation speed, so that the contact surface between the heat insulating plate 213 and the porous medium layer 214 is kept in a low temperature state, and the temperature is lower than the ignition point of the gas. When the flow rate of the mixed combustion gas is reduced to reduce the power of the combustor by reducing the flow rate of the mixed combustion gas, the low temperature can reduce the flame propagation speed, and even when the flow rate of the mixed combustion gas is small, the effect of preventing flashback can be maintained, and the purpose of increasing the adjustment ratio of the combustor can be achieved.

[0134] In order to ensure real-time monitoring of the temperature of the pre-mixing area 2115 , the pre-mixing area 2115 further includes a thermocouple 2151 inserted therein, with the detection end of the thermocouple 2151 being close to the inner wall of the pre-mixing area 2115 .

[0135] A heat-retaining material layer 2152 is provided around the outer periphery of the cooling intervening layer 212 to provide thermal insulation and heat retention for the entire housing.

[0136] To support the housing portion, the infrared combustor 210 further includes a bottom insulating face plate 2154 configured to support the housing and the cooling interlayer 212, and the bottom insulating face plate 2154 has heat dissipation holes corresponding to the heat dissipation port 2113 and does not affect the release of heat.

[0137] Generally, a metal bottom plate 2156 is further provided below the heat insulating material support layer 2153 of the combustor for supporting it. When the bottom plate 2156 faces the high temperature in the furnace, it expands due to heat and generates a high-temperature creep effect, which causes a warping phenomenon in the bottom plate 2156. Once such deformation becomes excessive, the heat insulating material support layer 2153 is destroyed by the force caused by the deformation, and the porous medium material layer 214 placed on the heat insulating material support layer 2153 becomes unstable. Therefore, in this embodiment, a reinforcing rib 2157 is newly added to reinforce the bottom plate 2156 of the combustor by welding. A part of the reinforcing rib 2157 is welded and fixed to the inner cylinder 2114, and another part is welded and fixed to the bottom plate 2156.

[0138] In this embodiment, the insulating material layer and the porous medium material layer 214 are in close contact with each other. A pressing mechanism 2155 is provided in the premixing area 2115 along the intake direction, and a first end of the pressing mechanism 2155 is connected to the housing, and a second end of the pressing mechanism 2155 is in contact with the insulating material layer and applies pressure to the insulating material layer so that the insulating material layer and the porous medium material layer 214 are always in close contact with each other. The number of pressing mechanisms 2155 is three, and the three pressing mechanisms 2155 are provided around the axis of the housing and are equally spaced apart. In one embodiment, the number of pressing mechanisms 2155 is four, and the pressing mechanisms 2155 are provided at the four corners of the housing. The pressing mechanism 2155 keeps the insulating material layer and the porous medium material layer 214 in close contact with each other, and prevents the insulating material layer and the porous medium material layer 214 from being formed by the expansion of the combustor due to heat during the operation process, thereby avoiding the problem of rapid diffusion of heat and poor combustion effect caused by the gap.

[0139] The operation of the infrared combustor 210 is as follows.

[0140] A premixed gas of supporting air and gas enters the chamber through the intake port 2112 and temporarily resides in the premixing area 2115, where the premixed gas further completes mixing in the form of turbulent flow while cooling the surrounding wall surfaces to some extent.

[0141] The premixed gas enters the porous medium material layer 214 along the gas passage in the thermal insulation material layer and completes combustion in the porous medium material layer 214. Since the gas is ignited initially, the combustion process inside the porous medium material layer 214 continues with the continuous entry of the premixed gas, and the porous medium material in normal operation state exhibits an infrared state.

[0142] The cooling medium enters the inner cylinder 2114 through the cooling inlet 2122, makes a full circle around the inner cylinder 2114 within the cooling intervening layer 212, and then is discharged through the cooling outlet 2123, thereby realizing temperature control over the entire housing. The thermocouple 2151 monitors the temperature of the premixing area 2115 in real time to evaluate the cooling effect of the cooling medium.

[0143] In the description herein, reference to "some embodiments," "other embodiments," and the like means that the specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In the present specification, schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

Claims

1. a preheating stage furnace body having a feed port provided with a general smoke exhaust port, which is divided into a plurality of stages along the direction of glass travel, each stage being provided with a smoke intake port and a smoke injection joint; A heating corrugated furnace body provided with a plurality of infrared combustors which are porous media combustors; A soaking corrugated furnace body is provided behind the heating corrugated furnace body along the glass traveling direction, and has a plurality of air ducts provided therein, configured to generate horizontal and parallel air currents on the upper and lower surfaces of the glass; The preheating furnace body is configured to suck the smoke from the heating furnace body through the smoke intake port and send the sucked smoke to the preheating furnace body through the smoke injection joint. Glass strengthening furnace.

2. The preheating furnace further includes a plurality of transmission rollers that pass through the preheating furnace, the heating furnace, and the soaking furnace in sequence. In the preheating stage furnace body, a plurality of smoke injection air knives are provided on the upper and lower sides of the transmission roller along the glass traveling direction, and the plurality of smoke injection air knives on the upper and lower sides of the plurality of transmission rollers and the plurality of transmission rollers are arranged offset in the height direction, and the smoke injection joint is configured to send the sucked smoke to the plurality of smoke injection air knives.

2. The glass strengthening furnace according to claim 1.

3. The air knife outlets of the plurality of smoke-ejecting air knives have a reduced aperture; 3. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 2.

4. a volume expander having a Venturi tube-structured passage connected to the air knife air outlets of the plurality of smoke injection air knives is provided in the preheating stage furnace body; 4. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 3.

5. The plurality of infrared combustors are arranged above and below the transmission roller along the glass travel direction, being offset from one another.

2. The glass strengthening furnace according to claim 1.

6. The heating corrugated furnace body further includes an airflow stirring device that is spaced apart from the plurality of infrared combustors along a traveling direction of the glass.

6. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 5.

7. The air passage has an air outlet and an air inlet, The air outlets are located above and below the transmission rollers, and are provided at first ends of the transmission rollers along the radial direction of the transmission rollers, so that the air blown out from the air outlets reaches the first ends of the transmission rollers, is blown out from gaps between adjacent transmission rollers, and can blow through the upper and lower surfaces of the glass in parallel with the transmission rollers; The wind inlet is provided above and below the transmission roller and is close to a second end of the transmission roller, and is configured to suck in wind that has blown over the upper and lower surfaces of the glass. The glass strengthening furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The air duct includes a centrifugal fan and an air duct body having an air intake stage air duct and an air outlet stage air duct, and the centrifugal fan is configured to rotate to suck in an air flow and to blow the air flow into the air duct body; The air outlet stage air duct has a first end connected to the outlet of the centrifugal fan and a second end having the air outlet, The wind suction stage air duct has a first end connected to the inlet of the centrifugal fan and a second end provided with the wind suction port.

8. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 7.

9. The air outlet section includes a first partial air duct provided parallel to the transmission roller and a second partial air duct provided perpendicular to the transmission roller, and the air outlet is provided on a side wall surface of the second partial air duct close to a first end of the transmission roller.

9. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 8.

10. The soaking corrugated furnace body further includes a heater, The heater is provided below the impeller of the centrifugal fan, so that the wind sucked in by the rotation of the impeller passes through the heater before entering the impeller.

9. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 8.

11. The heating portion of the heater is placed in the wind intake stage air duct.

11. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 10.

12. The wind suction port is provided on a side wall surface of the wind suction stage air passage close to the second end of the transmission roller, 9. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 8.

13. The preheating furnace body, the heating furnace body and the soaking furnace body are each divided into an upper furnace body provided above the transmission roller and a lower furnace body provided below the transmission roller. A glass strengthening furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. The porous media combustor includes a housing having a chamber, and an intake port and a heat dissipation port communicating with the chamber, the direction from the intake port to the heat dissipation port being an intake direction, the chamber having a premixing area, a flashback prevention area, and a combustion area sequentially arranged along the intake direction, the flashback prevention area being filled with a heat insulating material layer, and the combustion area being provided with a porous media material layer, the heat insulating material layer having a gas passage communicating the premixing area and the porous media material layer, and a cooling intermediary layer configured to accommodate a cooling medium is provided on the outer periphery of the housing, and the cooling intermediary layer is surrounded by at least a portion of the premixing area, a portion of the flashback prevention area, and a portion of the combustion area. A glass strengthening furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. The housing includes an inner cylinder and a cover plate having the air inlet, The cover plate is attached to one end of the inner cylinder to form the chamber together with the inner cylinder, and an outer cylinder is fitted around the outer periphery of the inner cylinder, and the cooling intermediate layer is formed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder.

15. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 14.

16. The cooling intervening layer is provided with a cooling inlet and a cooling outlet for a cooling medium adjacent to the intake port.

16. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 14 or 15.

17. A combustion supporting air pipe communicating with the intake port is further provided, the auxiliary combustion air duct and the cooling inlet communicate with each other through a first branch passage, the auxiliary combustion air duct and the cooling outlet communicate with each other through a second branch passage, and a connection point between the second branch passage and the auxiliary combustion air duct is closer to the intake port than a connection point between the first branch passage and the auxiliary combustion air duct; 17. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 16.

18. Further comprising a cooling water tank communicating with the cooling inlet and a hot water tank communicating with the cooling outlet.

17. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 16.

19. The porous media combustor comprises: A heat-insulating material layer is provided on the outer periphery of the cooling intervening layer; a heat insulating material support layer is provided in the chamber near the heat dissipation port, the heat dissipation passage corresponding to the porous medium material layer and communicating with the heat dissipation port; the glass strengthening furnace further comprises a bottom insulating face plate configured to support the housing and having a heat dissipation hole corresponding to the heat dissipation port; The glass strengthening furnace further comprises a thermocouple inserted in the premixing area.

15. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 14.

20. The ratio of the depth to the diameter of the gas passages of the insulating material layer is 30:1 to 80:

1.

15. A glass strengthening furnace according to claim 14.

21. The glass strengthening furnace according to any one of claims 1 to 20 is used, On the side material placement table, manually (or with an automated device) lay the glass flat in a single layer, arrange the products, The glass is conveyed to a preheating furnace by a transmission roller, and the preheating of the product is completed in the preheating furnace; The glass is conveyed through a heating corrugated furnace so that the temperature of the glass in the heating corrugated furnace is increased to a set temperature of 600° C. to 640° C.; The glass is passed from the heating stage to the soaking stage, and the circulating gas brushes against the upper and lower surfaces of the glass to heat and soak the glass. A method for strengthening glass comprising the steps of:

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