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IR Sensors for Glass Processing

Bottles and Containers

Annealing of glass containers is conducted immediately following the forming process and the containers enter the lehr when already hot. The annealing lehr will further heat the containers and then cool them at a carefully controlled rate. Post annealing processing can provide cosmetic decoration and in some cases, decorative coatings are applied that require further thermal curing.

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Application Need 

The annealing process is designed to remove any residual stress in the formed container. Obtaining the correct temperature and cooling curve is critical to achieve the required strength in the finished product. The temperature setpoints of the lehr will be changed, depending on glass thickness and container size. To confirm correct cure of decorative coatings, the temperature profile through the cure oven is required to prove that the coating meets the desired cure schedule (Time @ Temperature).

If the glass container has a large, solid bottom, the transportiation belt will cool the container unevenly and cause breakage. To prevent this from happening, the belt needs to be heated with gas flames prior to reaching the bottling machines. Measuring the belt temperature is critical to help prevent breakage.

Benefits to the customer 
  • Provide detailed profile data, enabling rapid process setup when changing products, for reduced downtime for annealing and coating cure
  • Measure and control temperature uniformity across the belt, ensuring all products are correctly annealed
  • Troubleshoot the annealing and coating processes quickly and easily
  • Use the temperature profile data to match lehr throughput to forming process speed
  • Reduce scrap and breakage on the bottle line
  • Speed up the process by adjusting the belt speed
Infrared Temperature Solutions
  • High measurement accuracy for reliable indication of temperature variations
  • Powerful air purge to keep dust and debris off the lens
  • High ambient temperature up to 85° (185 °F) without extra cooling
Thermal Profiling Systems
  • Small oven profiling system that can be attached directly to the Pin Chain Coating/Cure line and travel safely through space restricted ovens
  • Multiple measurement channel datalogger allows detailed monitoring at different parts of the bottle or locations in the oven from process start to finish
  • Complete process tempertaure profile trace provides a certified and fullly traceable validation report to meet any regulatory compliance needs

Get more information about Fluke Process Instruments solutions for this application

 

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