Method and device for controlling a thermal treatment process for glass sheets

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a method for controlling a glass sheet heating furnace using information describing a glass load including a plurality of glass sheets. The method includes transporting the glass sheets toward a heating furnace, before thermal treatment, photographing the glass load by a camera to obtain a camera image, sending first information of the camera image to a computer, on the basis of which the computer determines a first value of a dimension of the glass load and selects a value of at least one adjustment parameter of the heating furnace on the basis of the first value before the glass load has been transferred into the heating furnace, and reading second information by a line scanner, which is sent to the computer, on the basis of which the computer determines a second value of the dimension of the glass load.

1 . A device for controlling a glass sheet heating furnace using information describing a glass load including a plurality of glass sheets, the device comprising:
 a computer;   one or more devices for adjusting a convection blowing of the furnace and/or for adjusting a current to be supplied to electric resistors of the furnace;   at least one 2D camera which is aligned and configured to photograph a glass load when the glass load is on the transfer conveyor upstream of the heating furnace; and   at least one line scanner, wherein a measurement line of the at least one line scanner covers an entire width of a glass loading area, and wherein the at least one line scanner is configured such that the glass load passes through the measurement line of at least one line scanner in the thermal treatment process.   
     
     
         2 . A device according to  claim 1 , wherein the measurement line of the line scanner is upstream of the heating furnace and at a distance of up to 3 m from the heating furnace. 
     
     
         3 . A device according to  claim 1 , wherein a length of the transfer conveyor is up to 50% longer than a maximum length of a glass load in the furnace. 
     
     
         4 . A device according to  claim 1 , wherein the camera is configured to be located at a height of 1-4 m from a surface of the glass load. 
     
     
         5 . A device according to  claim 1 , wherein the camera is a photographic camera. 
     
     
         6 . A device according to  claim 1 , wherein the line scanner includes a row of capacitive sensors, and the distance between adjacent sensors in the row is less than 50 mm.