TNO Glass Group has developed a fast glass process simulator (GPS) that can easily be used by operators and glass technologists to obtain important (and previously unavailable) information about the impact of furnace operation on furnace performance. Not only does GPS provide online information on flow, temperature, and redox distribution of the total glass melt, but by using GPS the user can also check on the impact of changes in furnace settings or disturbances on important quality indicators such as colour, sulfate retention, residence time distribution and fining quality. After an introduction to the simulation of the flow, temperature distribution and redox state of the melt and the impact of changes in process settings on the fining performance and on the colour of the glass, the architecture of GPS will be briefly explained.
