Patent ID: 8919149
Filing Date: 2014-12-30
Classification: C03B,G01J

Abstract:
1. A method for melting glass, comprising: (i) operating a glass melting furnace under a set of control parameters; (ii) feeding a glass batch into the glass melting furnace; (iii) melting the glass batch into molten glass, wherein during the melting a surface layer comprising a portion of the glass batch and foam forms over the molten glass; (iv) obtaining a plurality of thermograms of an interior of the glass melting furnace; (v) analyzing the thermograms to determine whether there is instability in the thermodynamics of the surface layer; (vi) adjusting the set of control parameters to reduce a determined instability in the thermodynamics of the surface layer, wherein step (v) comprises: (vii) analyzing at least one of the thermograms to obtain a first temperature profile along a first interrogation path and a second temperature profile along a second interrogation path; and (viii) comparing the first and second temperature profiles to determine to what degree the first and second temperature profiles are different.