Solar glass: a battle for profitability

摘要

The rising demand for functional coatings could cause solar glass manufacturers to add coating and finishing systems to their in-house production facilities, including processes for anti-reflective and TCO coatings. The company f | glass from Germany and some other manufacturers have already realised this type of integrated production.rnThe dimensions are impressive: the head of the 238 m long float glass plant consists of an enormous melting furnace, with a maw which swallows what specialists refer to as "batch": an approximately 25 ℃ mixture of sand (60 %), soda (19 %), dolomite (15 %) and other materials. In the heat of the melting tank, at a temperature of around 1,580 ℃, this becomes liquid glass. The long path to the end product then begins: with a drawing speed of 2 to 22 m per minute, the melt first passes through a tin bath, in which it is brought "into form" at around 1,100 ℃. At the next station, in a slow, low-stress process, a 600 ℃ "leer" cools the material, which by now has become panes of glass. Finally, quality control and cutting to size take place in the cutting line.