Glass Making, Forehearth: Consultant McCann Science

Glass forehearth simulation dynamic model. Radiation heat transfer, viscous flow. Consulting in applied mathematics for engineering and physical sciences McCann Science
Glass making, Forehearth. Molten glass flows down a forehearth from the furnace to molding or extruding. In a glass making plant, on its way from the furnace, where it is melted, to the machinery where it is dispensed into moulds (molds) or streamed out (extruded) in ribbons for light bulbs or tubes, molten glass passes along a canal, or forehearth, lined with refractory material, probably heated by flames or infra-red lamps to keep it molten and to condition it to uniform and constant temperature for working. To be able to get better control of the many forehearths in use, the client wanted to build a model of the process with its flowing glass mass flow pattern, and radiative heat transfer from the heaters and by conduction and internal radiation (remember the glass is partially transparent to infra-red) inside the moving stream. While in principle the task is straightforward, the efficient use of computing time to handle all the internal couplings needed some tricks and care. It was also important to ascertain the significance of the interaction between temperature distribution and flow since the viscous flow could be expected to be changed by the strong temperature dependence of viscosity and the Navier-Stokes equations are not well behaved. Having overcome the misunderstanding at one of the manufacturing sites where they had expected the model to be built physically with flowing treacle (molasses), the work yielded a working model, a masters degree thesis and in the process, eliminated a lot of industrial folklore. For another example in the glass industry look at glass moulding. If you have a problem in the dynamics or control of a distributed parameter system like this forehearth... moving streams with heat transfer or other changes going on (like chemical reactions for example).... then contact McCann Science.	Links in website: Home/Index Page About McSc Summary Principal (CV) Contacting us Contact in UK Location USA Philosophy Software Tools Fees CAD service Applications Business & Commerce TV Advertising Drugs Competition Housing Demand Automobiles Demand Wallcoverings Battle Cash Flow Human Resources Project Management Patent Analysis Chemical Industry Cooling Tower Fermentation Polymer Process Heat exchange Supercritical Fluid Distributed parameter Toxic gas allocation Electrical Control systems Initiation systems Ferrite Filters Microstrip Antennas Lightning Production & Process Automated manufacture Crimp and Press Glass making Glass molding Glass to metal seals Heat exchanger Helium Leak Testing RF Soldering Vacuum web coating Applications.
Invitation. McCann can help if you have a design or operational problem that needs some technical support that is outside your team's experience, some quantitative assessment of what is really the cause of the difficulties, some design alternatives or just a fresh look by an intelligent interrogator. If you have a problem with the behaviour of a market sector, plant, process or item of equipment and would like to get a quantitative handle on it to improve yield or optimise performance, then contact us. We are always ready to give a little time to discuss a new puzzle, in confidence, of course. We'll only worry about fees when we have some defined work. We can be flexible about how we work with you. Top	McCann Science, POB 902, Chadds Ford PA 19317 USA. T: 1 302 654-2953 F: 1 302 429 9458 E: mjmccann@iee.org
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