High Temperature Motors for Glass Furnace Conveying Systems

How Wheatstone‘s Class H Insulation and WaterCooled Design Ensure Continuous Operation of ThousandDegree Production Lines

In glass manufacturing, motors are everywhere — from furnace batch chargers to annealing lehr drive rollers, from tin bath edge rollers to coldend cutting tables. The real headache for equipment engineers are the critical positions near heat sources: batch chargers adjacent to 1,600°C glass furnaces face 6080°C ambient with intense radiant heat; tin bath edge rollers can exceed 100°C in confined spaces; annealing lehr drive rollers span the entire lehr length with limited maintenance access. Once a glass furnace is lit, it runs continuously for 5 to 10 years. Motors can be replaced, but the line cannot stop.

Jiangsu Wheatstone has developed a full series of hightemperature motors specifically for glass furnace conveying systems, combining Class H/C insulation systems, widetemperature lubricants, reinforced cooling structures and 316L stainless steel housings – delivering a “heatresistant, impactresistant, precisionstable” power core for batch chargers, roller tables, annealing lehr drives and hightemperature fans.

I. Technical Challenges for Glass Furnace Conveying Motors

Ambient temperatures around glass furnaces often reach 150200 °C-. According to the “10Degree Rule”, a motor‘s insulation life halves for every 10 °C increase above its rated temperature. Standard mineraloilbased greases see oxidation rates double for every 15 °C rise above 100 °C, leading to bearing seizure. Differential thermal expansion causes abnormal bearing clearance and rotorstator contact. Glass dust is fine and hard, infiltrating motors and abrading windings and bearings; corrosive gases such as sulphur oxides and chlorides attack motor housings and junction boxes.

II. Core Technologies of Wheatstone HighTemperature Motors

Class H/C Insulation: Class H (180 °C, polyimide film and mica tape composite) as standard, optional Class C (>200 °C). In an annealing lehr application, a Wheatstone Class H motor ran for 24 months at 70 °C ambient, with winding temperature consistently below 140 °C and insulation resistance maintained above 100 MΩ-.

Magnets: N38UH hightemp NdFeB below 150 °C, SmCo for 150200 °C (flux decay <5 % at 200 °C).

PFPE HighTemperature Grease: Perfluoropolyetherbased grease rated up to 300 °C with low vapour pressure, nonvolatile and noncarbonising at high temperatures.

MultiStage Thermal Management: Thermal interference fit eliminates airgap thermal resistance; optional forced air or duallayer watercooled jacket. For glass furnace conveyor motors, recommended cooling water flow is generally ≥20 L/min.

316L Stainless Steel Housing & High Ingress Protection: Optional 316L stainless steel housing, IP66/IP67 – dusttight, jetproof, and washdownresistant.

HighPrecision ClosedLoop Control: Standard 23bit absolute encoder; closedloop vector control achieves speed accuracy of ±0.1 % and smooth lowspeed operation.

III. RealWorld Application Cases

Anhui Glass Plant – Annealing Lehr Drive Motor: Continuous operation for 24 months at 70 °C ambient, winding temperature consistently below 140 °C, insulation resistance maintained above 100 MΩ.

Zhejiang Glass Manufacturer – Batch Charger Motor: Hclass insulation with forced air cooling, 18 months of operation without failure, charging accuracy maintained within ±0.5 mm.

Float Glass Production Line – Tin Bath Edge Roller Motor: Watercooled jacket added, continuous operation for 12 months at over 100 °C, winding temperature below 105 °C, positioning accuracy ±0.05 mm, edge thickness deviation reduced to ±0.02 mm.

IV. Selection Guide

Batch Charger / Furnace Periphery (6080 °C + radiant heat): HT series + Class H insulation + forced air cooling.

Tin Bath Edge Roller (>100 °C, confined space): WCS series + Class H/C insulation + water cooling + 23bit absolute encoder.

Annealing Lehr Drive Roller (7090 °C, longdistance continuous duty): HT series + Class H insulation + IP66/IP67 protection.

HighTemperature Fan (80120 °C, dust and corrosive gases): TBYC series + Class H/C insulation + stainless steel housing + fluoroelastomer seals.

V. Conclusion

A hightemperature motor for glass furnace conveying is not just about the temperature reading on a gauge — it is a systematic integration of insulation systems, lubricants, thermal management and materials science. With Class H/C insulation, PFPE hightemperature grease, watercooled design and 316L stainless steel housings, Wheatstone provides reliable hightemperature power solutions for the entire glass manufacturing process, from batch feeding to annealing.