According to an aspect of the disclosure, a glass manufacturing system includes a hot-end subsystem, including: a submerged combustion melter that melts feedstock to produce molten glass; a stiller that receives the molten glass from the submerged combustion melter and that includes a stilling tank to still the molten glass and that is configured to control outflow of the stilled molten glass to effectively decouple viscosity of the molten glass from the flow rate of the molten glass and thereby control finer molten glass levels; and a finer that is mechanically decoupled from the stiller, and that receives and fines the stilled molten glass to produce fined molten glass. Many other aspects of the system are also disclosed and claimed.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a glass manufacturing system includes a hot-end subsystem, including: a submerged combustion melter that melts feedstock to produce molten glass; a stiller that receives the molten glass from the submerged combustion melter and that includes a stilling tank to still the molten glass and that is configured to control outflow of the stilled molten glass to effectively decouple viscosity of the molten glass from the flow rate of the molten glass and thereby control finer molten glass levels; and a finer that is mechanically decoupled from the stiller, and that receives and fines the stilled molten glass to produce fined molten glass. Many other aspects of the system are also disclosed and claimed.

A system for positioning an optical preform in a furnace is provided that includes an upper muffle and a downfeed handle assembly with a tube defining a first end and a second end, the second end extending into the upper muffle. A handle is disposed within the tube. A second end of the handle extends into the upper muffle and a seal assembly is positioned around both the tube and the handle. The first end of the handle extends through the seal assembly and a drive assembly is coupled with the downfeed handle.

Disclosed in the present invention is a multi-crystal nucleus transparent glass-ceramic and a preparation method therefor, said preparation method comprising the following steps: during glass production, adding a plurality of types of nucleation agents, and after processing, acquiring a mother glass having certain outer dimensions; and placing the mother glass obtained in S2 under a temperature of T1 and heating for 1 h-6 h to perform annealing treatment, after the annealing treatment is complete, placing under a temperature of T2 and heating 1 h-6 h to perform nucleation treatment, and after nucleation treatment is complete, placing under a temperature of T3 and heating 0-3 h to perform crystallization treatment. T1<T2. The present invention produces a glass-ceramic containing multiple types of crystal nuclei and having crystal phases of lithium disilicate and petalite. The multiple crystal nuclei reduces the nucleation and crystallization energies required for devitrification, thus being able to reduce thermal treatment temperature and time, and adjust the ratio of crystals. The glass-ceramic prepared by means of the present preparation method features an increased damage resistance, good fracture toughness, and a broad application range.

Disclosed in the present invention is a multi-crystal nucleus transparent glass-ceramic and a preparation method therefor, said preparation method comprising the following steps: during glass production, adding a plurality of types of nucleation agents, and after processing, acquiring a mother glass having certain outer dimensions; and placing the mother glass obtained in S2 under a temperature of T1 and heating for 1 h-6 h to perform annealing treatment, after the annealing treatment is complete, placing under a temperature of T2 and heating 1 h-6 h to perform nucleation treatment, and after nucleation treatment is complete, placing under a temperature of T3 and heating 0-3 h to perform crystallization treatment. T1<T2. The present invention produces a glass-ceramic containing multiple types of crystal nuclei and having crystal phases of lithium disilicate and petalite. The multiple crystal nuclei reduces the nucleation and crystallization energies required for devitrification, thus being able to reduce thermal treatment temperature and time, and adjust the ratio of crystals. The glass-ceramic prepared by means of the present preparation method features an increased damage resistance, good fracture toughness, and a broad application range.

A method for preparing quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity, includes providing silica powders including hydroxyl groups. The silica powders are dehydroxylated, which includes drying the silica powders at a first temperature, heating the silica powders up to a second temperature and introducing a first oxidizing gas including halogen gas, thereby obtaining first dehydroxylated powders, and heating the first dehydroxylated powders up to a third temperature and introducing a second oxidizing gas including oxygen or ozone, thereby obtaining second dehydroxylated powders. The second dehydroxylated powders are heated up to a fourth temperature to obtain a vitrified body. The vitrified body is cooled to obtain the quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity. The quartz glass prepared by the above method has low content of hydroxyl and high purity. A quartz glass with low content of hydroxyl and high purity is also provided.

An actuating mechanism control method for a glass plate tempering process, comprising: after a glass plate is conveyed into a heating furnace, a monitoring unit monitors in real time energy consumed by a heating element of the heating furnace, and sends the energy consumed to a control unit to compare with a set threshold; and when the energy consumed by the heating element of the heating furnace is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the control unit sends an instruction to an actuating mechanism to control actions of the actuating mechanism to complete a corresponding tempering process procedure. Through the method that the monitoring unit monitors in real time the energy consumed by the heating element of the heating furnace, a heating procedure of the glass plate is more scientifically and precisely controlled, and, therefore, a discharging moment of the glass plate can be accurately determined.

An actuating mechanism control method for a glass plate tempering process, comprising: after a glass plate is conveyed into a heating furnace, a monitoring unit monitors in real time energy consumed by a heating element of the heating furnace, and sends the energy consumed to a control unit to compare with a set threshold; and when the energy consumed by the heating element of the heating furnace is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the control unit sends an instruction to an actuating mechanism to control actions of the actuating mechanism to complete a corresponding tempering process procedure. Through the method that the monitoring unit monitors in real time the energy consumed by the heating element of the heating furnace, a heating procedure of the glass plate is more scientifically and precisely controlled, and, therefore, a discharging moment of the glass plate can be accurately determined.

Disclosed in the present invention is a beam coherence eliminating element. The optical medium material of the element comprises microcrystalline glass, wherein microcrystalline particles therein have a size of 0.1-1000 nm and are distributed randomly. As the crystals in the microcrystalline glass can change the phase of light beams, the microcrystalline glass can change the phase of the light beams randomly, thereby eliminating the coherence of the beams. The crystal size of the microcrystalline glass is small, and thus does not affect the transmission efficiency of light beams. The element of the present invention has a simple structure and is convenient to use, and can be added in the process of beam transmission to easily eliminate beam coherence.

Disclosed in the present invention is a beam coherence eliminating element. The optical medium material of the element comprises microcrystalline glass, wherein microcrystalline particles therein have a size of 0.1-1000 nm and are distributed randomly. As the crystals in the microcrystalline glass can change the phase of light beams, the microcrystalline glass can change the phase of the light beams randomly, thereby eliminating the coherence of the beams. The crystal size of the microcrystalline glass is small, and thus does not affect the transmission efficiency of light beams. The element of the present invention has a simple structure and is convenient to use, and can be added in the process of beam transmission to easily eliminate beam coherence.