Patent ID: 9550694
Date: 2017-01-24
CPC Classifications: C03B,H05H

Claim:
1. An apparatus, comprising: a plasma containment vessel having at least first and second opposing wall members defining an inner volume of X, Y, Z orthogonal dimensions and directions, an inlet end, and an opposing outlet end separated from the inlet end in the Y direction; an inlet structure disposed at the inlet end of the plasma containment vessel and including: (i) a material inlet for receiving glass batch material, and an opposing material outlet, where the material inlet and the material outlet are elongate in the X direction such that the glass batch material is dispensed as a substantially planar sheet of glass batch material particles into the inner volume of the plasma containment vessel, (ii) at least one gas inlet for receiving one or more sources of plasma gas, and (iii) a plurality of gas outlets disposed in a linear arrangement around a periphery of the material outlet, each of the plurality of gas outlets including at least one bore extending from the at least one gas inlet to the periphery of the material outlet, and the gas outlets for directing the plasma gas into the inner volume of the plasma containment vessel; and first and second electrode plates covering portions of respective exterior surfaces of the first and second wall members of the plasma containment vessel, wherein: the first and second electrode plates are operable to receive a source of alternating current (AC) power having characteristics sufficient to produce an alternating electric field in the Z direction, and facilitate production of a plasma plume within the plasma containment vessel, the plasma plume is of a substantially planar sheet shape having dimensions sufficient to envelope the planar sheet of glass batch material particles, and is of sufficient thermal energy to cause the glass batch material to thermally react.