Batch and Cullet Proportioning With Separate Preheating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing glass manufacturing processes face challenges in efficiently blending and proportioning preheated batch and cullet materials due to their different physical properties, leading to operational difficulties and significant heat losses, while also requiring substantial fuel consumption and emissions.
Innovation Solution
A system for separately preheating batch and cullet using exhaust gases from the glass melting furnace, followed by controlled blending in a proportioning cylinder, utilizing load cells and adjustable feeders to maintain a predetermined cullet ratio, and feeding the mixture into the furnace.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If batch and cullet are heated separately, then heat exchanger design can be optimized for each material's physical properties, but blending hot materials becomes difficult and leads to heat losses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the heating action before the blending action. Batch and cullet are separately preheated in dedicated heat exchangers to optimal temperatures, then blended together. This preliminary heating ensures both materials reach their required temperatures before mixing, minimizing heat loss during the blending process while maintaining optimized heat exchanger design for each material's specific thermal properties.
2Ease of operation
If batch and cullet are blended before heating, then handling is simpler, but heat exchanger design cannot be optimized for different physical properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the heating process into separate segments for batch and cullet. Each material passes through its own dedicated heat exchanger where the design can be specifically optimized for that material's physical properties (particle size, thermal conductivity, specific heat). This segmentation allows tailored heat transfer optimization while maintaining relatively simple handling through automated feeding systems.
3Loss of energy
If cullet ratio is increased to reduce fuel consumption, then fuel cost decreases, but glass quality control becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback control system that continuously monitors the cullet ratio in the batch mixture and adjusts the feeding rates of batch and cullet accordingly. Load cells measure the actual cullet ratio, and this information feeds back to the control system which modifies the feeder speeds to maintain the target cullet ratio. This ensures consistent glass quality while optimizing fuel consumption through appropriate cullet utilization.
4Manufacturing precision
If batch and cullet are fed at variable rates to maintain cullet ratio, then glass quality is maintained, but feeder system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical feeder coordination systems with a control system based on electrical sensors and automated actuators. Load cells provide electrical signals about material weights, and motorized feeders with variable speed drives respond to electronic control signals. This substitution of mechanical linkages with electrical control systems achieves precise cullet ratio control while reducing mechanical complexity and improving responsiveness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Reduces fuel requirements and emissions by optimizing the blending process, minimizing heat losses, and maintaining consistent cullet ratios, thereby enhancing operational efficiency and reducing costs.
Implementation Method 1
separately preheating batch and cullet is operationally advantageous. Physical properties of batch and cullet are significantly different, so each heat exchanger can be optimally designed if they are heated separately
Implementation Method 2
Passing cullet by gravity through devices in the following sequence
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatus, system, and method for blending batch and cullet at a predetermined cullet ratio for feeding to a furnace. It includes a first hopper for holding cullet; a second hopper for holding batch; feeder associated with the second hopper; a chamber positioned to receive cullet from the first hopper, an inlet spout configured to receive cullet from the first hopper so that cullet flood feeds into the chamber to keep it constantly filled with cullet up to its angle of repose, and an outlet spout; a chute positioned to receive batch from the feeder and extending into the chamber and having a chute outlet having a diameter equal to or larger than the outlet spout; a charger for receiving mixed batch and cullet from the chamber; and a controller operatively connected to the feeder and to the charger.