Investigation of flow dynamics of molten glass in different solar glass production units using radiotracer method

Sunil Goswami; Jayashree Biswal; Vijay Kumar Sharma; Jitendra S Samantray; Rajeev Gupta; Sorabh Singhal; Harish Jagat Pant

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110662

Investigation of flow dynamics of molten glass in different solar glass production units using radiotracer method

Appl Radiat Isot. 2023 Mar:193:110662. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110662. Epub 2023 Jan 11.

Authors

Sunil Goswami¹, Jayashree Biswal¹, Vijay Kumar Sharma¹, Jitendra S Samantray¹, Rajeev Gupta², Sorabh Singhal², Harish Jagat Pant³

Affiliations

¹ Isotope and Radiation Application Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India.
² Borosil Renewables Limited, Bharuch, Gujarat, India.
³ Isotope and Radiation Application Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085, India. Electronic address: hjpant@barc.gov.in.

PMID: 36652839
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110662

Abstract

A radiotracer investigation was previously carried out to characterize the flow of the molten glass and to identify the cause of poor quality of the glass sheets produced in an industrial solar glass production unit (SGPU-1) (Pant et al., 2016). Based on the investigations, several flow abnormalities were identified and the design of the unit was modified to improve the quality of the product and meet the product specifications. Subsequently, the radiotracer investigation was repeated in the modified unit (SGPU-1m). The results of the study showed that the dead volume and homogenization time in the modified unit were significantly reduced with improvement in mixing of the molten glass as compared to the SGPU-1. Based on the results of the two investigations, a new glass production unit (SGPU-2) with enhanced capacity was designed, fabricated and commissioned. The radiotracer investigation was repeated in the newly designed unit with an objective to evaluate and validate its design. The results indicated that the performance of SGPU-2 was as per the design criteria and the quality of the glass sheets produced was as per the desired specifications.

Keywords: Dead volume; Forehearth; Furnace; Homogenization time; Lanthanum-140; Molten glass; Radiotracer; Residence time distribution.