The clear disadvantage of air jet quenching is the need for high electric power when thin glass (thickness 4 mm and below) is processed, which also entails significant energy consumption. The total input power of fans in a glass tempering chiller can be as much as one megawatt. Attempts have been made to solve this problem of thin glass thermal tempering in many ways during the last 50 years. Many patent applications have been written which have attempted to arrange cooling with a water mist, contact heat transfer, and carbon dioxide snow, for example. Despite a wide range of ideas, quenching in today’s world is arranged with air jets. The paper introduces the above efforts to challenge air jet quenching and considers their possibilities. For the most part, the paper focuses on reducing the energy consumption of air jet tempering. It highlights clear possibilities or even solutions that exist on the market to reduce energy consumption in glass air jet quenching. Reducing energy consumption also reduces operating costs and CO2 emissions. The paper aims to state that some opportunities for energy saving are relatively simple, and their payback period may also be attractive. However, in many cases, the additional cost of such opportunities is still a problem for their sale.
Mikko Rantala
Glass tempering: Energy saving possibilities in glass quenching
Company: Glaston, Finland
About the speaker:
Mikko works as Senior Manager, Patents & Thermal Engineering, in Glaston Finland Oy. He has gained 27 years of experience in developing of glass heat treatment machines and 16 years experience of handling of patent matters. He has completed Ph.D. on heat transfer in glass heat treatment machines and completed a patent attorney’s degree. His experience and expertise in thermal engineering covers tempering, lamination, bending, and all other glass heat treatment processes in the company’s industry. He is familiar with the patents in the field and follows the products in the field. One of his areas of interest is reducing the energy consumption of glass heat treatment machines.