Submerged combustion burners having a burner body and a burner tip connected thereto. The burner body has an external conduit and first and second internal conduits substantially concentric therewith, forming first and second annuli for passing a cooling fluid therethrough. A burner tip body is connected to the burner body at ends of the external and second internal conduits. The burner tip includes a generally central flow passage for a combustible mixture, the flow passage defined by an inner wall of the burner tip. The burner tip further has an outer wall and a crown connecting the inner and outer walls. The inner and outer walls, and the crown are comprised of same or different materials having greater corrosion and/or fatigue resistance than at least the external burner conduit.

Submerged combustion burners having a burner body and a burner tip connected thereto. The burner body has an external conduit and first and second internal conduits substantially concentric therewith, forming first and second annuli for passing a cooling fluid therethrough. A burner tip body is connected to the burner body at ends of the external and second internal conduits. The burner tip includes a generally central flow passage for a combustible mixture, the flow passage defined by an inner wall of the burner tip. The burner tip further has an outer wall and a crown connecting the inner and outer walls. The inner and outer walls, and the crown are comprised of same or different materials having greater corrosion and/or fatigue resistance than at least the external burner conduit.

Submerged combustion burners having improved fuel and oxidant mixing characteristics. Submerged combustion melters including the burners. Methods of using submerged combustion melters to melt glass-forming materials and produce molten glass.

A portion of a submerged combustion burner is disposed into a pressure vessel. The portion of the submerged combustion burner has a welded area that has a first microstructure defined by a first number of voids. The vessel is filled with an inert gas, pressurized, and heated. Pressurizing and heating operations are performed for a time and at a temperature and a pressure sufficient to produce a second microstructure in the welded area of the burner. The second microstructure is defined by a second number of voids less than the first number of voids.

A roof mounted oxygen-fuel burner for a glass melting furnace can produce a variable moving or sweeping flame in the furnace and can also vary the flame shape. The burner has a housing having an oxygen inlet pipe coupled to an oxygen chamber and a fuel inlet pipe coupled to a fuel feeding crossover block. The fuel feeding block feeds fuel to a nozzle fuel port while the oxygen chamber feeds a plurality of nozzle oxygen ports which oxygen port outlets are angled toward the centralized fuel port outlet. A rotating impeller over the oxygen ports has a partial opening that causes a variable moving or sweeping flame in the burner as the impeller rotates. The impeller is also raised or lowered to control the flow of oxygen to the plurality of oxygen port outlets to control the shape of the burner flame.

A burner comprises a central conduit, a first annular conduit, and a nozzle plate across the outlet of the first annular conduit, wherein the nozzle plate comprises a plurality of orifices that extend through the nozzle plate, and a second annular conduit which opens into a downstream space, wherein the central conduit and the first annular conduit are controllably connected to a first reactant and the second annular conduit is controllably connected to a source of a second reactant, wherein one of the first and second reactants comprises fuel and the other of the first and second reactants comprises oxygen. Combustion apparatus comprises a plurality of the burners, preferably arranged in two planes each of which contain at least one of the burners. A fuel-rich flame can be emitted in one of the planes and a fuel-lean flame can be emitted in the other plane. The fuel-rich and fuel-lean nature of the flames emitted in the respective planes can be periodically alternated.

A portion of a submerged combustion burner is disposed into a pressure vessel. The portion of the submerged combustion burner has a welded area that has a first microstructure defined by a first number of voids. The vessel is filled with an inert gas, pressurized, and heated. Pressurizing and heating operations are performed for a time and at a temperature and a pressure sufficient to produce a second microstructure in the welded area of the burner. The second microstructure is defined by a second number of voids less than the first number of voids.

Submerged combustion burners having improved fuel and oxidant mixing characteristics. Submerged combustion melters including the burners. Methods of using submerged combustion melters to melt glass-forming materials and produce molten glass.

Processes and systems for producing glass fibers having regions devoid of glass using submerged combustion melters, including feeding a vitrifiable feed material into a feed inlet of a melting zone of a melter vessel, and heating the vitrifiable material with at least one burner directing combustion products of an oxidant and a first fuel into the melting zone under a level of the molten material in the zone. One or more of the burners is configured to impart heat and turbulence to the molten material, producing a turbulent molten material comprising a plurality of bubbles suspended in the molten material, the bubbles comprising at least some of the combustion products, and optionally other gas species introduced by the burners. The molten material and bubbles are drawn through a bushing fluidly connected to a forehearth to produce a glass fiber comprising a plurality of interior regions substantially devoid of glass.

The present invention relates to a process for melting solid batch material, comprising the steps of introducing solid batch material into a melter, and melting the solid batch material in the melter by submerged combustion and subjecting the melt to a flow pattern which when simulated on a computer by making use of common fluid dynamic equations shows a substantially toroidal melt flow pattern in the melt, comprising a major centrally inwardly convergent flow at the melt surface, the central axis of revolution of the toroid being substantially vertical. The invention further relates to a melter assembly for carrying out the process. The toroidal melt flow pattern is achieved by suitable arrangement, angle and spacing of multiple submerged combustion burners in the floor of the melter.