Small Glass Furnace Modeling and Control: For Accurate Prediction of Glass Temperature

A state space model of an end-fired furnace wasdeveloped in which the furnace was dividedlongitudinally into two zones. Zone 1 contains theburner flame ¿¿¿cylinder¿¿, while Zone 2 is beyond theend of the flame cylinder. Separate states areidentified for the temperatures of the refractory inthe crown, the walls above the glass melt, the wallsadjacent to the two primary melt zones, and the floorof the furnace. The furnace ends are also dividedinto similar zones constituting discrete states. Theglass melt itself contains a thin, surface layer andtwo thicker layers of stratification. In all, 24state variables are included in the model. The inputsare the net thermal power provided by the flame andthe ambient temperature. Simulations were performedin Simulink and Matlab and were used to predict thetemperatures of all 24 state variables. The resultswere verified using data collected from a similartank furnace at Fenton Art Glass Company. The resultsshowed a significant stratification in the verticalaxis of the furnace but very nearly uniformtemperatures in the length and width directions. Themodel was used to study various melting strategies.