Heat exchange in the cross-fired glass furnace

The paper sums up the results of an analysis of external heat exchange based on theoretical calculations and a three-dimensional model of a cross-fired glass furnace’s segment. Two forms of fuel admission into the port (side and bottom) are compared for a wide range of flame lengths. The analysis of the temperature and heat-absorption fields reveals that with both forms of fuel admission, the flame length has a weak optimum occurring at anywhere from half to three-quarters the furnace width. With properly arranged combustion, bottom fuel admission is more efficient than side fuel admission.