Abstract: Methods for providing feedback control of converters for converting glass tubes to glass articles include a model predictive control framework. The methods include operating the converter, providing target values for attributes of the glass articles or glass tubes, measuring the attributes for the glass articles and glass tubes, conditioning the measurement data to remove outlier data points and calculating statistics representative of the measured attributes, and determine updated settings for one or more process parameters from the previous settings, the statistical properties, and the target values, where the updated settings are those that minimize an objective control function for the converter. The methods further include adjusting the process parameters to the updated settings. The model predictive control framework enables feedback control of the converter that compensates for disturbances that act on the process.

Abstract: Methods for controlling a converter for converting glass tubes to glass articles include preparing condition sets including settings for a plurality of process parameters, operating the converter to produce glass articles, measuring attributes of the glass articles, operating the converter at each of the condition sets, associating each glass article with a condition set used to produce the glass article and the attributes measured, developing operational models from the attributes measured and the condition sets, determining run settings for each of the plurality of process parameters based on the operational models, and operating the converter with each of the process parameters set to the run settings determined from the operational models.

Abstract: Methods for producing articles from a glass tube include securing a working end of the glass tube in a glass tube holder of a converter having a plurality of processing stations including a heating station and a forming station. An initial length of the glass tube includes a plurality of serial segments, each of the plurality of serial segments corresponding to one article and having an article number. The methods include heating the working end of the glass tube in the heating station, adjusting an amount of heating of the glass tube in the heating station based on the article number at the working end of the glass tube, and forming a feature of the article in the forming station. Adjusting the amount of heating based on the article number reduces variation in tube temperature, article dimensions, or both, from one article number to the next article number.