Patent ID: 11970418
Assignee: CORNING INCORPORATED
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 4:
5. A system for producing a plurality of glass articles from glass tube, the system comprising:
a converter having a plurality of processing stations comprising at least one heating station, at least one forming station, and a separating station;
a plurality of holders, each of the plurality of holders operable to secure a glass tube and rotate the glass tube about a center axis of the glass tube; and
a system controller communicatively coupled to the converter;
wherein the converter is operable to move the plurality of holders and glass tubes through the plurality of processing stations;
wherein each of the plurality of processing stations has an exposure index defined as a rotational speed of the glass tube within the holder in units of rotations per time multiplied by a number of heating elements or a number of forming tools contacting an outer surface of the glass tube in the processing station and multiplied by the active time of the glass tube in the processing station;
wherein an absolute difference between the exposure index and a nearest integer is less than or equal to 0.30 for each of the plurality of processing stations; and
wherein the system controller comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory storage medium containing computer readable and executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system controller to automatically:
identify one or more temperature or dimensional inhomogeneity in the glass tube around a circumference of the glass tube;
determine an exposure index of the glass tube for one or more of the plurality of processing stations;
compare the exposure index for each of the one or more processing stations to a nearest integer; and
adjust a rotational speed of the glass tube, an active time of the glass tube in the processing stations, or both to maintain an absolute difference between the exposure index and the nearest integer less than or equal to 0.30.