The control and monitoring of heat transfer fluid (HTF) levels is ensuring the reliability of a critical adiabatic process cooling system at a major aerospace engineering company.
A Cool Gauge RT-100 in-line monitoring system from Climalife (UK) was installed in 2021 in an adiabatic cooling system that was originally installed in 2018. It supplies cooled heat transfer fluid to critical manufacturing and process machinery (some of which are over 50 years old) and is approximately 32,000 litres in volume.
The current system replaced a previous adiabatic system that had suffered extensive and irreparable damage – mostly in the form of leaks due to corrosion.
There is no back up for this critical cooling system, so concise system control and protection was considered vital if production was to be safeguarded. One of the key parameters to be kept under strict control is the HTF level as, by keeping the correct HTF reserve the system will receive the necessary all-round protection from the built-in corrosion and scale inhibitors.
Cool Gauge is said to offer greater visibility whilst helping to minimise the energy consumption by maintaining optimum viscosity of HTF within systems. Constant monitoring of the system prevents corrosion and scale build up in systems by maintaining the HTF inbuilt inhibitors. In addition, in open systems it enables automatic dosage to ensure accurate control and maintenance of HTF concentration. It can also provide instant notification if HTF levels fall too low, preventing expensive and time-consuming system failures.
By monitoring and controlling the optimum HTF (inhibited) reserve, the system can receive the necessary protection from freezing, corrosion and scale.
Continuous collection of vital HTF data by Cool Gauge is now delivered to the controller via Cool Gauge’s RS485 capability, which effectively enables accurate dosage of the selected HTF to the system.
The HTF reserve is maintained accurately by adjustable high and low set-points in the controller. This data can also be seen by remote viewers in real-time, and, if necessary, alerts sent to operators via text or email if the set-points are breached.
Since installation, the Cool-Gauge RT-100 in-line monitoring system is said to have achieved a significant increase in the level of system examination with a corresponding advance in the level of control. The device has provided an increased level of accuracy and proven to be exceptionally reliable.
