Glass is one of the most common materials which is relied upon every day around the world for a number of products, including; container glass used for bottles and jars, flat glass used in glazing for buildings and vehicles, and domestic glassware used for tumblers, jugs and vases to name a few.
Manufacturing this modern-day commodity requires a range of heating and cooling processes to help to mould and shape the glass for its required use, whilst ensuring its strength and durability.
But how do you ensure the heating and cooling is adequate for the products you are creating?
We design and deliver a range of efficient fans for each application within the glass manufacturing process which are both heavy duty and can withstand high temperatures.
Glass manufacturing applications
There are three main applications for glass manufacturing, each of which comprise a variety of fans and blowers which help to form the finished product, dependent on its desired use.
Oven Cooling (or annealing) is the process of cooling hot glass objects in a slow and controlled manner after they have been formed, to relieve residual stress and reduce the likelihood of the finished glass to crack or shatter.
For more complex products, glass manufacturers commonly require a special process of oven cooling in a temperature-controlled kiln to maximise the durability and reliability of the finished product.
Mould cooling is vital for the consistent moulding of containers such as bottles and jars. In order to achieve suitable cooling in the manufacturing process, machines use fans to circulate air over the moulds. The fans are customised for each process to disperse lots of heat whilst equally distributing the temperature across the mould to ensure the products quality and durability.
Tempered glass is a type of safety glass processed by controlled thermal or chemical treatments to increase its strength. As part of this process, the glass is quenched to cool the outer surfaces of the glass much quicker than the centre and as a result, the centre remains in tension and the outer surfaces go into compression, which give tempered glass its strength.
There are several steps of the temper and quench process in which high efficiency glass tempering blowers are directed at the surface in order to achieve the required temperature.
Finding the right solution
At Ferrari Industrial Fans, we provide a wide range of sophisticated industrial fans and blowers for the glass industry to suit every application. The FR, ART, VCM and FA fans are all direct drive, single inlet centrifugal fans which are manufactured from steel sheet and are protected with cataforesis primer and an epoxy paint finish.
Each fan features an IP55 class F protection and is designed to continuously circulate air from -20°C to 60°C. They can be fully customised to meet the requirements of each individual application with the option to add thermal insulation lagging, 2-speed motors, welding casing and the ability to create versions for higher temperature settings (up to 300°C).
One Ferrari Industrial Fans customer who has benefitted from our exceptional industrial process fans is one of the world’s leading manufacturer of tempered glass processing equipment. This customer needed high pressure fans which provide large air volumes to ensure the forming and performance of tempered glass.
Since Ferrari Industrial Fans have impellers of various widths and diameters, we were able to provide fans which would help the manufacturer to achieve high efficiency values under the air volume and pressure conditions required by its various glass production lines.
The outstanding performance of Ferrari Industrials Fans enabled the customer not only to reduce the initial investment in its tempered glass production line, but also to reduce energy consumption.
Making an informed choice on the right fans to get for your glass-making production will not only result in great output but ensure the durability and reliability of your products. Contact the team today to let us help find the right solution for you.