Analysis on the Glass Panel Heating in the Vacuum Sealing Chamber for a Plasma Display Panel

Numerical analysis has been carried out to find optimum parameters for the infrared heating of the glass panel in the vacuum sealing chamber for a Plasma Display Panel (PDP). The glass panel is composed of two sheets of glass plates and both 42 and 60 inch panels are used for the analysis. The glass panel is assumed to be opaque to radiation for the simplification and thermal conduction in the direction normal to the glass surface is neglected since the thickness of the panel is much smaller than other dimensions. Heat is transferred only by conduction within the panel and heat transfer between the panel and heaters in the vacuum chamber is analyzed with the surface-to-surface radiation exchange model. Wall reflectivity is used as a parameter in the analysis. When the reflectivity of the chamber wall is high, the temperature uniformity of the panel is improved but rapid heating might not be possible since it requires a long heating time. When the reflectivity is low, rapid heating is possible but temperature uniformity is degraded and the electric power applied to heaters increases due to large heat loss through the wall.