Patents by Inventor Boris Gromann

Boris Gromann has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20190071342
    Abstract: One aspect relates to a process for preparing a quartz glass body, including providing a silicon dioxide granulate, making a glass melt from the silicon dioxide granulate in a melting crucible, making a quartz glass body from at least a part of the glass melt, and treating the quartz glass body with at least one procedure selected from the group consisting of chemical, thermal or mechanical treatment to obtain a treated quartz glass body. One aspect also relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. One aspect also concerns a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body each obtainable by processing the quartz glass body further.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE
  • Publication number: 20190062193
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing a silicon dioxide granulate, wherein the silicon dioxide granulate was made from pyrogenic silicon dioxide powder and the silicon dioxide granulate has a BET surface area in a range from 20 to 40 m2/g, ii.) Making a glass melt out of silicon dioxide granulate in an oven and iii.) Making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt, wherein the oven has at least a first and a further chamber connected to one another via a passage, wherein the temperature in the first chamber is lower than the temperature in the further chambers. The invention further relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body, which are each obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE, Matthias SÖHN
  • Publication number: 20190062194
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing a silicon dioxide granulate, ii.) Making a glass melt out of the silicon dioxide granulate and iii) Making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt, wherein the provision comprises the steps I. Providing a silicon dioxide powder with at least two particles made from a silicon-chlorine compound, II. Bringing the silicon dioxide powder into contact with steam to obtain a treated silicon dioxide powder and III. Granulating the treated silicon dioxide powder to obtain a silicon dioxide granulate, and wherein the chorine content of the silicon dioxide powder is greater than the chlorine content of the silicon dioxide granulate. The invention further relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a process for providing a silicon dioxide granulate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE, Thomas KAYSER
  • Publication number: 20190031554
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body comprising the process steps i.) Providing a silicon dioxide granulate, ii.) Making a glass melt out of silicon dioxide granulate in an oven and iii.) Making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt, wherein the oven comprises a standing sinter crucible. The invention further relates to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. The invention further relates to a light guide, an illuminant and a formed body, which are each obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: January 31, 2019
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE
  • Publication number: 20180370838
    Abstract: One aspect relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass body, including provision of a silicon dioxide granulate, making a glass melt from the silicon dioxide granulate and making a quartz glass body from at least part of the glass melt. The provision includes making a silicon dioxide powder with at least two particles prepared from a silicon-chlorine compound, bringing the silicon dioxide powder into contact with ammonia to obtain a treated silicon dioxide powder, and granulating the treated silicon dioxide powder to obtain a silicon dioxide granulate. The chlorine content of the silicon dioxide powder is greater than the chlorine content of the silicon dioxide granulate. One aspect relates further to a quartz glass body which is obtainable by this process. One aspect also relates to a process for the preparation of a silicon dioxide granulate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE, Thomas KAYSER
  • Publication number: 20180362385
    Abstract: One aspect relates to a process for the preparation of a quartz glass grain, including providing a silicon dioxide granulate from a pyrogenically produced silicon dioxide powder, making a glass melt out of silicon dioxide granulate, making a quartz glass body out of at least part of the glass melt and reducing the size of the quartz glass body to obtain the quartz glass grain. One aspect further relates to a quartz glass grain which is obtainable by this process. One aspect further relates to opaque quartz glass bodies, which are obtainable by further processing of the quartz glass grain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Publication date: December 20, 2018
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Martin ARNDT, Matthias OTTER, Walter LEHMANN, Michael HÜNERMANN, Nils Christian NIELSEN, Nigel Robert WHIPPEY, Boris GROMANN, Abdoul-Gafar KPEBANE
  • Publication number: 20180215646
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for producing a tube of glass by zonewise heating and softening of a hollow cylinder by a movable heating zone while rotating about its rotation axis. The glass tube is continuously formed by radial expansion of the softened region under action of centrifugal force and/or internal overpressure applied in the hollow-cylinder bore. The method and apparatus make it possible to deform the hollow cylinder in a single or a small number of forming steps into a glass tube having a larger outer diameter and high dimensional accuracy by determining a circumferential position at which the wall thickness is comparatively small, and during heating and softening of the rotating hollow cylinder a coolant is dispensed from a coolant source onto the deformation zone only when or predominantly when the circumferential position having the comparatively small wall thickness passes the coolant source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: August 2, 2018
    Inventors: Boris GROMANN, Matthias SÖHN, Alexander BLUMENAU
  • Patent number: 9957185
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for producing a tube of glass by zonewise heating and softening of a hollow cylinder by a movable heating zone while rotating about its rotation axis. The glass tube is continuously formed by radial expansion of the softened region under action of centrifugal force and/or internal overpressure applied in the hollow-cylinder bore. The method and apparatus make it possible to deform the hollow cylinder in a single or a small number of forming steps into a glass tube having a larger outer diameter and high dimensional accuracy by determining a circumferential position at which the wall thickness is comparatively small, and during heating and softening of the rotating hollow cylinder a coolant is dispensed from a coolant source onto the deformation zone only when or predominantly when the circumferential position having the comparatively small wall thickness passes the coolant source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Matthias Söhn, Alexander Blumenau
  • Patent number: 9938635
    Abstract: A method for producing a component includes joining individual wall parts, especially for producing a melting crucible for use at a high operating temperature in a crucible-pulling method for quartz glass, wherein at least two wall parts of a refractory metal or of a base alloy of a refractory metal are provided, butt-joined to form a joint and joined together by sintering at a temperature above 1500° C. to form the component. A sealant is inserted into the joint to provide a component of improved tightness and to ensure improved sintering of the individual parts of the component. A component produced according to the method, particularly a melting crucible, particularly in a crucible pulling method for quartz glass, has the joint between the butt-joined walls closed in a gas-tight manner by a sealant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Nigel Whippey, Christian Schenk
  • Publication number: 20170327403
    Abstract: A method for forming a hollow cylinder, in a single step, into a quartz glass tube with a large outer diameter and high dimensional stability is provided. To produce the tube, the cylinder, while rotating, is softened in portions in a heating zone which is moved at a relative feed rate Va and the softened portion is radially expanded by a centrifugal force and/or internal overpressure applied in the hollow cylinder bore so as to form a deformation zone. The radial expansion of the softened portion is carried out at a location-dependent radial expansion rate Vr, the profile of which along the deformation zone has a maximum value Vr,max which is smaller than 20 cm/min. The temperature in a rear heating portion of the heating zone, assigned to the end of the deformation zone, is lower than in a front heating portion assigned to the beginning of the deformation zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Publication date: November 16, 2017
    Inventors: Boris GROMANN, Nigel WHIPPEY
  • Patent number: 9725352
    Abstract: A method for forming a hollow cylinder, in a single step or in as small a number of steps as possible, into a quartz glass tube with a large outer diameter and high dimensional stability is provided. The cylinder, while rotating about a rotation axis, is softened in portions in a heating zone which is moved at a relative feed rate Va, and the softened portion is radially expanded by a centrifugal force and/or an internal overpressure applied in the hollow cylinder bore so as to form a deformation zone. The tube is continuously shaped with an outer diameter D2 which is greater than that of the hollow cylinder D1. The radial expansion of the softened portion is carried out at a location-dependent radial expansion rate Vr, the profile of which along the deformation zone has a maximum value Vr,max which is smaller than two times the feed rate Va.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Nigel Whippey
  • Publication number: 20160318789
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for producing a tube of glass by zonewise heating and softening of a hollow cylinder by a movable heating zone while rotating about its rotation axis. The glass tube is continuously formed by radial expansion of the softened region under action of centrifugal force and/or internal overpressure applied in the hollow-cylinder bore. The method and apparatus make it possible to deform the hollow cylinder in a single or a small number of forming steps into a glass tube having a larger outer diameter and high dimensional accuracy by determining a circumferential position at which the wall thickness is comparatively small, and during heating and softening of the rotating hollow cylinder a coolant is dispensed from a coolant source onto the deformation zone only when or predominantly when the circumferential position having the comparatively small wall thickness passes the coolant source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Publication date: November 3, 2016
    Inventors: Boris GROMANN, Matthias SÖHN, Alexander BLUMENAU
  • Publication number: 20160176747
    Abstract: A method for forming a hollow cylinder, in a single step or in as small a number of steps as possible, into a quartz glass tube with a large outer diameter and high dimensional stability is provided. The cylinder, while rotating about a rotation axis, is softened in portions in a heating zone which is moved at a relative feed rate Va, and the softened portion is radially expanded by a centrifugal force and/or an internal overpressure applied in the hollow cylinder bore so as to form a deformation zone. The tube is continuously shaped with an outer diameter D2 which is greater than that of the hollow cylinder D1. The radial expansion of the softened portion is carried out at a location-dependent radial expansion rate Vr, the profile of which along the deformation zone has a maximum value Vr,max which is smaller than two times the feed rate Va.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Publication date: June 23, 2016
    Inventors: Boris GROMANN, Nigel WHIPPEY
  • Publication number: 20160168005
    Abstract: A method for producing a large quartz-glass pipe is provided. In a first forming step, an intermediate cylinder made of quartz glass and having an intermediate-cylinder wall thickness and outside diameter is formed by using a forming tool and is then cooled. In a second shaping step, at least one length segment of the cooled intermediate cylinder is fed to a heating zone, heated to a softening temperature zone by zone therein, and, while rotating about the longitudinal axis of the intermediate cylinder, shaped into the large quartz-glass pipe having a final wall thickness and outside diameter. The quartz glass is synthetically produced and has an average hydroxyl group content of 10 ppm by weight or less. If the intermediate cylinder is divided into length segments of 1 cm, adjacent length segments have a difference of less than 2 ppm by weight in the average hydroxyl group content thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2014
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Applicant: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co., KG
    Inventors: Boris GROMANN, Burtchard OBERLE, Christian SCHENK, Gero FISCHER, Pèlagie DECLERCK, Bemhard FRANZ, Ulrich LEIN, Alexander LAAZ, Achim HOFMANN
  • Patent number: 9242887
    Abstract: In a known process for drawing a quartz glass strand, SiO2 particles are fed to a melting crucible and softened therein to form a quartz glass mass, and the softened quartz glass mass is pulled vertically downward as a quartz glass strand via a drawing nozzle which is provided in the bottom region of the melting crucible and has a gap-like drawing nozzle opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Christian Neumann
  • Publication number: 20150337455
    Abstract: The present invention refers to a method for producing a component by joining individual wall parts—especially for producing a melting crucible for use at a high operating temperature in a crucible pulling method for quartz glass, in that at least two wall parts of a refractory metal or of a base alloy of a refractory metal are provided, butt-joined to form a joint and joined together by sintering at a temperature above 1500° C. to form the component. To provide a component of improved tightness and to ensure improved sintering of the individual parts of the component, a sealant is inserted into the joint. Furthermore, the present invention refers to a component produced according to the method, particularly a melting crucible, particularly in a crucible pulling method for quartz glass, in which the joint between the butt-joined walls is closed in a gas-tight manner by a sealant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Publication date: November 26, 2015
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Nigel Whippey, Christian Schenk
  • Patent number: 9115018
    Abstract: In a known drawing method for producing a cylindrical component from quartz glass, a quartz glass strand (2) is continuously drawn off from a softened quartz glass composition (13) vertically downwards in the drawing direction (3), a piece (15) with a weight G is detached from the free end of the strand at a time t1 and the cylindrical component is produced from the piece (15). When the piece (15) is detached, there may be a sudden reduction in weight, which leads to fluctuations in the thawing-off control. To counteract this, it is proposed according to the invention that a weight compensating force which acts counter to the drawing direction (3), increases over time and completely or partially compensates for the weight G of the piece (15), is applied to the piece to be detached at a time t0 before t1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Heraeus Quarzglas GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Christian Neumann, Boris Gromann, Lothar Huefner, Heinz Bauscher
  • Publication number: 20130305784
    Abstract: In a known process for drawing a quartz glass strand, SiO2 particles are fed to a melting crucible and softened therein to form a quartz glass mass, and the softened quartz glass mass is pulled vertically downward as a quartz glass strand via a drawing nozzle which is provided in the bottom region of the melting crucible and has a gap-like drawing nozzle opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Applicant: HERAEUS QUARZGLAS GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Boris Gromann, Christian Neumann
  • Publication number: 20130186137
    Abstract: In a known drawing method for producing a cylindrical component from quartz glass, a quartz glass strand (2) is continuously drawn off from a softened quartz glass composition (13) vertically downwards in the drawing direction (3), a piece (15) with a weight G is detached from the free end of the strand at a time t1 and the cylindrical component is produced from the piece (15). When the piece (15) is detached, there may be a sudden reduction in weight, which leads to fluctuations in the thawing-off control. To counteract this, it is proposed according to the invention that a weight compensating force which acts counter to the drawing direction (3), increases over time and completely or partially compensates for the weight G of the piece (15), is applied to the piece to be detached at a time t0 before t1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicant: HERAEUS QUARZGLAS GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Christian Neumann, Boris Gromann, Lothar Huefner, Heinz Bauscher