Evaporative cooling towers achieve their purpose of cooling water by forcing a specific amount of water through evaporation. The quantity of water evaporated is directly proportional to the amount of heat to be dissipated. Approximately 1 litre of water is lost for every 600 Kcal of thermal load discarded.
This is an indisputable physical fact and represents one of the few “critical” aspects to be managed in the definitely positive balance of evaporative systems compared to other cooling technologies.
Evaporated water must be returned to the circuit to get cooling. This operation has to be carried out in such a way that there are no deposits in the circuit that could come from salts contained in the water that evaporates and remain dissolved in the remaining water. This gradually increases its concentration. In short, it is essential to keep certain levels under control. Normally, an adequate anti-scale treatment, a partial purge of the water contained in the circuit and a biocide treatment are more than sufficient for this purpose.
Purging and cooling tower supply keeps the salt level stable.
Purging and cooling tower supply keeps the salt level stable.
Purging and cooling tower supply keeps the salt level stable.
Therefore cannot be changed in quantitative terms. Water defined as “purge” has the function of keeping the amount of dissolved minerals within certain limits.
Purging can be managed in an “empirical” way, basically slightly higher to evaporation Also, it can be controlled by constant monitoring of the quality of the water contained in the circuit, in particular the electrical conductivity parameter.
Conductivity control by means of specific treatments against lime advantages
- significantly to reduce water waste
- to keep the system in perfect efficiency
- to reduce maintenance interventions
- to minimize the replacement of components subject to wear.
Therefore, the ideal solution may be to prefer “integrated” solutions for your system. That means packs that include, in addition to the cooling tower, also an equipment dedicated to water control and management. Even better if proposed directly by manufacturers as they can be suitable in substance and specifically designed for a specific cooling equipment.
The optimal installation and management of a suitable treatment system ensures cooling instalations operating conditions This leads to high equipment efficiency over time. Thanks to system automation, improved cooling tower management is possible with reduced operating effort.
By assessing the specific conditions of each plant, the right management system can be foreseen. Aothough a higher initial investment is required, adopting an integrated water treatment system will reduce cooling system operating costs.