Patent ID: 8141388

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a glass sheet, the method comprising the steps of: melting batch materials to form molten glass; processing the molten glass to form the glass sheet; controlling heating or cooling rates across a width of the glass sheet, by adjusting temperatures of a plurality of temperature controlled elements relative to a temperature distribution across the width of the glass sheet, where the controlling step is implemented by a temperature control device which includes: a controller, the plurality of temperature controlled elements which are connected to the controller; and a radiation collimator positioned between the plurality of temperature controlled elements and the glass sheet, wherein the radiation collimator has walls which incorporate materials with a lower emissivity such that oblique rays leaving the glass sheet are reflected by the walls before reaching the plurality of temperature controlled elements, and wherein the controller individually controls the temperature of each of the temperature controlled elements such that a combination of the plurality of temperature controlled elements and the radiation collimator are able to control the temperature distribution across the width of the glass sheet with a desired spatial resolution; drawing the glass sheet; and cutting the glass sheet into individual glass sheets.