A furnace has a melting chamber with a periphery defined by a surrounding wall structure. The furnace is provided with a purge system configured to direct inert gas to flow downward in the melting chamber in the configuration of a curtain that adjoins the wall structure and reaches only partially around the periphery of the melting chamber.

The invention relates to a method for producing a glass substrate for vehicle glazing, in particular for a windscreen of a vehicle, which comprises hot forming of a borosilicate glass, wherein in a hot forming section, at least during stretching of the glass (8) in the flow direction or longitudinal direction of movement of the glass (8), an aging velocity Av of the glass (8) to be hot formed does not exceed 10 mm/s and an aging velocity Av of the glass preferably does not undershoot 3 mm/s, and also relates to glass substrates for vehicle glazing produced by such method as well as to windscreen projection devices and driver assistance systems comprising such glass substrates.

The invention relates to a method for producing a glass substrate for vehicle glazing, in particular for a windscreen of a vehicle, which comprises hot forming of a borosilicate glass, wherein in a hot forming section, at least during stretching of the glass (8) in the flow direction or longitudinal direction of movement of the glass (8), an aging velocity Av of the glass (8) to be hot formed does not exceed 10 mm/s and an aging velocity Av of the glass preferably does not undershoot 3 mm/s, and also relates to glass substrates for vehicle glazing produced by such method as well as to windscreen projection devices and driver assistance systems comprising such glass substrates.

A controller, process, and glass manufacturing apparatus can be configured to minimize defects. Embodiments can be adapted to control injection of nitrogen and/or argon and a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen or nitrogen, hydrogen, and argon during glass float manufacturing to facilitate a pre-selected hydrogen concentration within a tin bath furnace while also minimizing glass surface defects that can be caused from tin condensation and tin bath impurity concentrations. Empirical use data can also be collected and provided to a pre-defined machine learning element of a host device to update a pre-defined control scheme of a controller for adapting the operational condition set points or other target values to account for furnace operation history and performance.

A controller, process, and glass manufacturing apparatus can be configured to minimize defects. Embodiments can be adapted to control injection of nitrogen and/or argon and a mixture of nitrogen and hydrogen or nitrogen, hydrogen, and argon during glass float manufacturing to facilitate a pre-selected hydrogen concentration within a tin bath furnace while also minimizing glass surface defects that can be caused from tin condensation and tin bath impurity concentrations. Empirical use data can also be collected and provided to a pre-defined machine learning element of a host device to update a pre-defined control scheme of a controller for adapting the operational condition set points or other target values to account for furnace operation history and performance.