Modelling and optimisation of a glass feeder considered as a distributed parameter system

This paper deals with the modelling and optimisation of a so-called glass feeder. A feeder is a kind of a channel connecting in this case the smelting furnace and the forming device of container glass facilities. For conditioning it is possible to influence the glass velocity by changing the discharging at the end and the temperature by gas burners along the feeder. This process can be described as a distributed parameter system and modelled by a partial differential equation, the corresponding initial and boundary conditions. Special experiments at a real production lead to a simplified solution in the time domain and thus to an easy parameter estimation. Finally the objective is an energy-optimal operation for a certain product (steady state) and a time-optimal transient behaviour between two products.