Patent ID: 6050814
Filing Date: 2000-04-18
Classification: C03B

Abstract:
A forced convection furnace for heating glass sheets, comprising:a housing having a heating chamber;a roll conveyor located within the heating chamber of the housing and having horizontally extending conveyor rolls for conveying glass sheets along a direction of conveyance within the heating chamber for heating; anda forced convection heater including lower hot gas distributors located below alternate conveyor rolls, each lower hot gas distributor including a hot gas plenum and a pair of banks of nozzles for supplying hot gas from the plenum thereof for flow upwardly adjacent the associated conveyor roll both upstream and downstream thereof along the direction of conveyance to provide heating from below of the glass sheets being conveyed within the heating chamber, and the forced convection heater also including upper hot gas distributors for providing heating from above of the glass sheets being conveyed within the heating chamber by the roll conveyor.