A glass-producing system is disclosed that includes a glass melter and a glass fining tower positioned downstream of the glass melter. The glass fining tower includes a shell, a tubular wall disposed within and surrounded by the shell, and a base receiving wall that extends inwardly from the shell to the tubular wall. The tubular wall and the base receiving wall provide an interior fining chamber within the shell. The interior fining chamber comprises an elongated vertical well that is defined by the tubular wall and has an opening that is at least partially surrounded by a glass distribution surface of the base receiving wall. The glass fining tower further includes a heater and a vacuum source operable to maintain the interior fining chamber at a subatmospheric pressure. A method of producing glass is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to the supplying power to burners for oxy-fuel combustion glass melting furnaces, including a fuel injecting means and a hot oxygen power supplying means, the dispensing of oxygen being carried out so as to develop a staged combustion, a fraction of the oxygen being concurrently injected into the fuel, said oxygen being supplied essentially without heating prior to the supplying thereof into the fuel injecting means.

Methods and systems for controlling bubble size and bubble decay rate of glass foams formed during submerged combustion melting. Flowing a molten mass of foamed glass comprising molten glass and bubbles entrained therein into an apparatus downstream of a submerged combustion melter. The downstream apparatus has a floor, a roof, and a sidewall structure connecting the floor and roof. The foamed glass has glass foam of glass foam bubbles on its top surface, and the downstream apparatus defines a space for a gaseous atmosphere above and in contact with the glass foam. The downstream apparatus includes heating components to heat or maintain temperature of the foamed glass. Adjusting composition of the atmosphere above the glass foam, and/or contacting the foam with a liquid or solid composition controls bubble size of the glass foam bubbles, and/or foam decay rate.

Methods and systems for controlling bubble size and bubble decay rate of glass foams formed during submerged combustion melting. Flowing a molten mass of foamed glass comprising molten glass and bubbles entrained therein into an apparatus downstream of a submerged combustion melter. The downstream apparatus has a floor, a roof, and a sidewall structure connecting the floor and roof. The foamed glass has glass foam of glass foam bubbles on its top surface, and the downstream apparatus defines a space for a gaseous atmosphere above and in contact with the glass foam. The downstream apparatus includes heating components to heat or maintain temperature of the foamed glass. Adjusting composition of the atmosphere above the glass foam, and/or contacting the foam with a liquid or solid composition controls bubble size of the glass foam bubbles, and/or foam decay rate.

A submerged combustion melter is arranged with a melting chamber, which may be cylindrical, and at least five submerged combustion burners.

A method of producing flint glass using submerged combustion melting involves introducing a vitrifiable feed material into a glass melt contained within a submerged combustion melter. The vitrifiable feed material is formulated to provide the glass melt with a glass chemical composition suitable for producing flint glass articles. To that end, the glass melt comprises a total iron content expressed as Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 in an amount ranging from 0.04 wt % to 0.06 wt % and also has a redox ratio that ranges from 0.1 to 0.4, and the vitrifiable feed material further includes between 0.008 wt % and 0.016 wt % of selenium or between 0.1 wt % and 0.2 wt % of manganese oxide in order to achieve an appropriate content of selenium or manganese oxide in the glass melt.

A glass tank furnace having a length to width ratio of no less than 2.3 and no greater than 2.8. The glass tank furnace includes one or more weirs and a plurality of bubbling tubes provided on a bottom of the glass tank furnace. The plurality of bubbling tubes are disposed before, behind, or on the weirs.

The present invention provides a glass sheet having soda-lime-silica glass composition with a high visible light transmittance (L.sub.tC) of at least 89% with a dominant wavelength (DW) from about 490 to 505 nanometers and purity (Pe) of no more than 1% for control thickness of 5.66 mm and methods of making the same. The glass composition comprising a low iron raw material, a total iron oxide (Fe.sub.2O.sub.3) of 0.02 to 0.06 wt. %, ferrous (FeO) from 0.006 to 0.02 wt. %, redox (FeO/Fe.sub.2O.sub.3) from about 0.30 to 0.55, Cr.sub.2O.sub.3 from about 0.3 to 10 ppm, TiO.sub.2 from about 50 to 500 ppm, SnO.sub.2 from about 10 to 500 ppm, and a critical amount from about 0.10 to 0.25 wt. % of SO.sub.3. The low content of iron oxide is achieved by the partial substitution of regular raw materials by low iron raw materials, with a complete substitution of regular dolomite by a low iron dolomite with a maximum content of 0.020 wt. % Fe.sub.2O.sub.3.

A submerged combustion burner, a submerged combustion melter including the submerged combustion burner, and method of operating the submerged combustion burner are disclosed. The submerged combustion burner includes central burner tube and a heat pipe that surrounds and extends beyond a terminal end of the central burner tube. When received in a burner opening defined in a melting tank of a submerged combustion melter, the heat pipe of the submerged combustion burner is disposed between the central burner tube and the floor of the melting tank. The heat pipe transfers or pumps heat via a sealed working fluid to a cooling fluid that thermally communicates with the heat pipe exterior to the melting tank.

Temperature overshoot of internal components of a counter-flow shell and tube heat heat exchange may be reduced or avoided by adjusting the degree to which a tube-side fluid partially bypasses the heat exchanger.