An apparatus for refining molten glass that includes a housing having a vertically oriented longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Molten glass is received at an upper end of the housing and is discharged from a lower end of the housing. A guide extends at least partway across the housing and directs molten glass in a generally downward direction through the housing and in a parallel or oblique direction relative to the transverse axis of the housing.

A method and an apparatus for melting and refining glass, glass ceramic, or ceramizable to form glass ceramic are provided. The method and apparatus refine the materials such that less than 1 bubble/kg is included in the molten and refined material and the direct CO.sub.2 emissions amount to less than 100 kg per ton of molten material during the melting and refining.

A method and an apparatus for melting and refining glass, glass ceramic, or ceramizable to form glass ceramic are provided. The method and apparatus refine the materials such that less than 1 bubble/kg is included in the molten and refined material and the direct CO.sub.2 emissions amount to less than 100 kg per ton of molten material during the melting and refining.

The present invention relates to a high-generation TFT-LCD glass substrate production line. The production line includes a kiln, a large-flow precious metal channel, a tin bath, an annealing kiln, a cutting machine and an unloading machine connected in sequence. The present invention combines high-efficiency melting, clarification and homogenization of molten glass, ultrathin float forming and annealing process technologies of the TFT-LCD glass, which can produce the TFT-LCD glass substrates with large sizes such as 8.5 generations and 10.5/11 generations, which has the advantages of large product size, excellent product performance, coherent process procedures, high production efficiency, high productivity and the like.

The present invention relates to a high-generation TFT-LCD glass substrate production line. The production line includes a kiln, a large-flow precious metal channel, a tin bath, an annealing kiln, a cutting machine and an unloading machine connected in sequence. The present invention combines high-efficiency melting, clarification and homogenization of molten glass, ultrathin float forming and annealing process technologies of the TFT-LCD glass, which can produce the TFT-LCD glass substrates with large sizes such as 8.5 generations and 10.5/11 generations, which has the advantages of large product size, excellent product performance, coherent process procedures, high production efficiency, high productivity and the like.

A method of fining glass is disclosed that includes flowing a molten glass bath through a fining chamber. The molten glass bath has an undercurrent that flows beneath a skimmer that is partially submerged in the molten glass bath. One or more fining agents are introduced into the undercurrent of the molten glass bath directly beneath the skimmer from a carrier gas. In this way, the fining agent(s) may selectively target the gas bubbles drawn under the skimmer within the undercurrent of the molten glass for removal. The method may be employed to fine molten gas produced in a submerged combustion melter. A fining vessel for fining molten glass is also disclosed.

A method of fining glass is disclosed that includes flowing a molten glass bath through a fining chamber. The molten glass bath has an undercurrent that flows beneath a skimmer that is partially submerged in the molten glass bath. One or more fining agents are introduced into the undercurrent of the molten glass bath directly beneath the skimmer from a carrier gas. In this way, the fining agent(s) may selectively target the gas bubbles drawn under the skimmer within the undercurrent of the molten glass for removal. The method may be employed to fine molten gas produced in a submerged combustion melter. A fining vessel for fining molten glass is also disclosed.

A batch feeding apparatus, a submerged combustion melter, and method are disclosed. The batch feeding apparatus can include a batch feeding apparatus comprising a detachable feeder alcove for providing batch material to a melter, the feeder alcove including at least one side wall and a cover; and a batch feeder sealingly coupled to the cover, that feeds the batch material to the feeder alcove. The batch feeding apparatus may include an extendable panel that extends downwardly below a batch inlet of the feeder alcove to molten glass, and is configured to maintain contact with the molten glass to seal off a feeder alcove interior. Additionally, the batch feeding apparatus may include a heating device, a cleaning device, and/or a storage device.

A large-flow precious metal channel is provided, which comprises a molten glass mixed-flow stirring section, at least two molten glass heating, clarifying and cooling sections are connected in parallel at one end of the molten glass mixed-flow stirring section, the other end of which is communicated with a liquid supply tank. The channel is mainly used for the clarification and homogenization of large-flow high-temperature molten glass in the production process of 8.5-generation and higher-generation TFT glass, and provides bubble-free and streak-free high-quality molten glass for subsequent float forming or overflow forming processes.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a glass manufacturing system includes a hot-end subsystem, including: a submerged combustion melter that melts feedstock to produce molten glass; a stiller that receives the molten glass from the submerged combustion melter and that includes a stilling tank to still the molten glass and that is configured to control outflow of the stilled molten glass to effectively decouple viscosity of the molten glass from the flow rate of the molten glass and thereby control finer molten glass levels; and a finer that is mechanically decoupled from the stiller, and that receives and fines the stilled molten glass to produce fined molten glass. Many other aspects of the system are also disclosed and claimed.