A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber for containing glass melt and a conveyor for receiving glass batch material and feeding the glass batch material to the furnace chamber. A dam wall is disposed with respect to the conveyor such that batch material from the conveyor must flow upward over the dam wall before entering the furnace chamber. The top of the dam wall may be below the level of the melt pool in the furnace chamber.

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

A glass furnace includes a furnace chamber including a side wall and a bottom wall and containing a pool of glass melt having a melt level. A batch feed hopper is adjacent to the side wall of the furnace chamber to supply batch material under gravity to a bottom of the hopper. A feed opening is in the side wall of the furnace chamber and feeds batch material from the bottom of the hopper to the pool of glass melt below the melt level. A conveyor is proximate the bottom wall of the hopper and feeds the batch material from the bottom of the hopper through the feed opening and into the furnace chamber.

A glass melting tank comprising at least one front part for introducing the charge material, and at least one charging device. To reduce atmospheric heat losses and reduce dust transport into the upper furnace of the tank, and nevertheless to intensify the heating of the charge material, the front part has a length LV of at least 2,250 mm in the direction of the melting tank, and a length LG of at least 1,200 mm is provided with an insulating roof. An end wall near the charging device, together with the roof, encloses a gas chamber open toward the melting tank. A characteristic value K of 3.50 tonnes (t) per hour and per square meter of surface is not exceeded. The characteristic value is calculated from P/F, where P is the throughput per hour in tonnes (t) and F is the inner surface of the front part in m.

A glass melting tank comprising at least one front part for introducing the charge material, and at least one charging device. To reduce atmospheric heat losses and reduce dust transport into the upper furnace of the tank, and nevertheless to intensify the heating of the charge material, the front part has a length LV of at least 2,250 mm in the direction of the melting tank, and a length LG of at least 1,200 mm is provided with an insulating roof. An end wall near the charging device, together with the roof, encloses a gas chamber open toward the melting tank. A characteristic value K of 3.50 tonnes (t) per hour and per square meter of surface is not exceeded. The characteristic value is calculated from P/F, where P is the throughput per hour in tonnes (t) and F is the inner surface of the front part in m.

A cover plate structure for a glass fiber tank furnace forehearth includes chest wall bricks at two sides of the forehearth, cover plate bricks each spanning between a top end of at least one of the chest wall bricks at one of the two sides of the forehearth and a top end of at least one of the chest wall bricks at another one of the two sides of the forehearth, a thermal insulation layer covering outer surfaces of the cover plate bricks and the chest wall bricks, and a gap-covering brick fixed between the cover plate bricks and the thermal insulation layer and covering a gap between adjacent ones of the cover plate bricks.

A cover plate structure for a glass fiber tank furnace forehearth includes chest wall bricks at two sides of the forehearth, cover plate bricks each spanning between a top end of at least one of the chest wall bricks at one of the two sides of the forehearth and a top end of at least one of the chest wall bricks at another one of the two sides of the forehearth, a thermal insulation layer covering outer surfaces of the cover plate bricks and the chest wall bricks, and a gap-covering brick fixed between the cover plate bricks and the thermal insulation layer and covering a gap between adjacent ones of the cover plate bricks.

Methods of processing molten material comprising the step (I) of flowing molten material through an interior of a conduit from a first station to a second station of a glass manufacturing apparatus and the step (II) of cooling the molten material within the interior of the conduit by passing a cooling fluid along an exterior of the conduit. The method further includes the step (III) of directing a travel path of the cooling fluid toward a vertical plane passing through the conduit. In further examples, a glass manufacturing apparatus comprises a first station, a second station, and a conduit configured to provide a travel path for molten material traveling from the first station to the second station. The glass manufacturing apparatus further comprises at least one baffle configured to direct a travel path of cooling fluid toward a vertical plane passing through the conduit.

Methods of processing molten material comprising the step (I) of flowing molten material through an interior of a conduit from a first station to a second station of a glass manufacturing apparatus and the step (II) of cooling the molten material within the interior of the conduit by passing a cooling fluid along an exterior of the conduit. The method further includes the step (III) of directing a travel path of the cooling fluid toward a vertical plane passing through the conduit. In further examples, a glass manufacturing apparatus comprises a first station, a second station, and a conduit configured to provide a travel path for molten material traveling from the first station to the second station. The glass manufacturing apparatus further comprises at least one baffle configured to direct a travel path of cooling fluid toward a vertical plane passing through the conduit.

Processes and systems for producing molten glass using submerged combustion melters, including densifying an initial composition comprising vitrifiable particulate solids and interstitial gas to form a densified composition comprising the solids by removing a portion of the interstitial gas from the composition. The initial composition is passed from an initial environment having a first pressure through a second environment having a second pressure higher than the first pressure to form a composition being densified. Any fugitive particulate solids escaping from the composition being densified are captured and recombined with the composition being densified to form the densified composition. The densified composition is fed into a feed inlet of a turbulent melting zone of a melter vessel and converted into turbulent molten material using at least one submerged combustion burner in the turbulent melting zone.