The present disclosure relates to a method for cooling a component of a glass melting plant that contacts a glass melt, the corresponding cooling device, as well as the system of the cooling device and the cooled component itself. The method provides that a pipe with an open pipe end at least on one pipe section is introduced into an open cavity in the component with the formation of a peripheral annular space, and a cooling medium is introduced through the pipe into the cavity and is deflected at the base of the cavity, flows back in the annular space, and flows out of the cavity. In its pipe section introduced into the cavity, the pipe has a constriction and has perforations through the pipe walls in the region of the constriction, whereby the cooling medium is accelerated in its passage through the constriction in the inside of the pipe, and a portion of the cooling medium flowing back from the annular space is aspirated into the inside of the pipe.

A production apparatus making continuously curved crystalline glass as a cover or container includes a melting device, a drainage device, a molding device, and a crystallizing device. The melting device melts glass raw material to form a glass melt. The drainage device drains the glass melt to the molding device. The molding device includes a rotating table and a plurality of molding molds thereon. Each molding mold can be moved toward or away from the drainage device by the rotating table. Each molding mold has a molding cavity. At least one part of the molding cavity includes a plane, and at least one part of the molding cavity includes a curved surface to extrude the glass melt with such different surface forms. The crystallizing device crystallizes the curved glass member to achieve the curved crystallized glass member. A method for manufacturing such glass is also provided.

The present disclosure provides a picking assembly, a crucible picking device, and a method for a picking crucible. The picking assembly may include a transmission shaft; at least two rigid balls; and a support member carrying rigid balls of the at least two rigid balls. Two of the at least two rigid balls may be arranged on two opposite sides of the transmission shaft. Centers of the two of the at least two rigid balls and a center of a cross-section of the transmission shaft may be located on a same line. The transmission shaft may be movable back and forth in an axis direction of the transmission shaft.

A glass forming apparatus includes a glass delivery vessel, a forming body with a forming body inlet and a downcomer (48) between the glass delivery vessel and the forming body. The downcomer includes a downcomer tube (100) with an inlet end (110) for receiving molten glass from the glass delivery vessel and an outlet end (109) for discharging molten glass to the forming body inlet. An upper heating zone (110) and a lower heating zone (150) positioned downstream from the upper heating zone (110) encircle the downcomer tube and a lower controlled atmosphere enclosure (155) is positioned around and sealed to the downcomer tube (100) in the lower heating zone (150). The lower controlled atmosphere enclosure (155) includes at least one heating element (156) for heating molten glass flowing through the downcomer tube within the forming body inlet.

A glass forming apparatus includes a glass delivery vessel, a forming body with a forming body inlet and a downcomer (48) between the glass delivery vessel and the forming body. The downcomer includes a downcomer tube (100) with an inlet end (110) for receiving molten glass from the glass delivery vessel and an outlet end (109) for discharging molten glass to the forming body inlet. An upper heating zone (110) and a lower heating zone (150) positioned downstream from the upper heating zone (110) encircle the downcomer tube and a lower controlled atmosphere enclosure (155) is positioned around and sealed to the downcomer tube (100) in the lower heating zone (150). The lower controlled atmosphere enclosure (155) includes at least one heating element (156) for heating molten glass flowing through the downcomer tube within the forming body inlet.

The invention includes systems and methods for melting materials to make glass and other materials subject to electric melting that improve the capacity of the melters and/or the melt quality and/or the melting costs and/or the life of tank melters. These systems and methods use one or more of boosting with one or more streams of super hot melt coming from one or more boosting melters, cooling one or more components of one or more of the melters normally cooled using water with a high temperature cooling fluid or fluid suspension and protecting the normally high wear areas of refractory linings by covering those high wear areas with one or more strips of a corrosion and oxidation resistant metal or alloy useful above 2400 degrees F.

Provided is a glass product manufacturing apparatus. The glass product manufacturing apparatus includes a furnace including a gas heating zone and an electric heating zone, a first heat exchange module configured to recover heat from the furnace, and a pump configured to drive flow of a heat transfer medium fluid passing through the first heat exchange module, wherein at least a part of the first heat exchange module is thermally coupled with at least a part of an external surface of the electric heating zone. The glass product manufacturing apparatus may reduce defect rate while exhibiting high energy efficiency.

Provided is a glass product manufacturing apparatus. The glass product manufacturing apparatus includes a furnace including a gas heating zone and an electric heating zone, a first heat exchange module configured to recover heat from the furnace, and a pump configured to drive flow of a heat transfer medium fluid passing through the first heat exchange module, wherein at least a part of the first heat exchange module is thermally coupled with at least a part of an external surface of the electric heating zone. The glass product manufacturing apparatus may reduce defect rate while exhibiting high energy efficiency.

A gradient fining tank and a method of operating the tank to refine foamy molten glass is disclosed. The gradient fining tank includes a floor, a roof, and two laterally-spaced sidewalls that at least partially define an interior chamber of the tank. The floor of the tank is profiled to provide the tank with an extended shallow portion that defines an inlet to the interior chamber and a deep holding portion that defines an outlet from the interior chamber. An entry section of the floor provides the extended shallow portion of the tank and a transition section and exit section of the floor provide the deep holding portion. A depth of the interior chamber at an outlet end of the deep holding portion is greater than a depth of the interior chamber at the outlet end of the extended shallow portion.

A glass furnace including an additive-containing product including an additive selected from: phosphorus compounds other than glasses and vitroceramics, tungsten compounds other than glasses and vitroceramics, molybdenum compounds other than glasses and vitroceramics, iron in the form of metal, aluminum in the form of metal, silicon in the form of metal, and their mixtures, silicon carbide, boron carbide, silicon nitride, boron nitride, glasses including elemental phosphorus and/or iron and/or tungsten and/or molybdenum, vitroceramics including elemental phosphorus and/or iron and/or tungsten and/or molybdenum, and their mixtures, and having the following chemical analysis, exclusively of the additive, as a percentage by weight on the basis of the oxides: Cr.sub.2O.sub.3?2%, and Cr.sub.2O.sub.3+Al.sub.2O.sub.3+CaO+ZrO.sub.2+MgO+Fe.sub.2O.sub.3+SiO.sub.2+TiO.sub.2?90%, and Cr.sub.2O.sub.3+Al.sub.2O.sub.3+MgO?60%, the content by weight of additive being in the range 0.01% to 6%.