In a flat glass de-airing line glass-film sandwiches are located on rotating rollers and conveyed through a laminating oven in a continuous flow. The aim is to heat film to a certain temperature depending on the film-type before glass-film sandwich enters to a nip roll after the oven, so that film will get a good adhesion with glass. The film temperature cannot be measured, so the success in heating is monitored based on the look of the glass after nip roll and/or measured surface temperature of the sandwich with a pyrometer locating between the oven end and nip-roll. The measured surface temperatures are typically between 60 and 85˚C increasing with sandwich thickness. Also, the glass initial temperature before heating varies during working day, which causes variation to measured temperature.
To secure that selected process parameters for heating are successful, theoretical calculation methods can be used to predict the thickness-wise temperature profile of a glass-film sandwich. The transient temperature profile over the heat treatment period gives information to proof if a film will reach to right temperature before it enters in the oven. To make this prediction possible and secure its accuracy the process conditions for the oven type need to be solved with experimental test.
The paper will present the main of the prediction methods used and compares predicted results against the experimental data from the laboratory tests and data collected from laminating ovens in a cloud. It also discusses how prediction methods can be utilized in the future in a machine automation and to meet the challenges with new lamination films.
