Solutions for sustainability
Designed, Machined, and Assembled in the USA
Conditioning System
A case study for evaporating condenser application:
A food processing plant in Arizona has an evaporative condenser for cooling air compressors and a few other pieces of equipment. The condenser is installed in immediate proximity to a flour mill causing maintenance problems with the facility’s tower and low thermal exchange efficiency on the coil pack. The tower is located on an elevated platform, and in a position where seasonal dust storms and action of the tower’s fans introduce flour, dirt and particles into the basin and other internal surfaces, greatly affecting efficiency.
Regular inspections of the tower continually showed large amount of debris collecting in the basin at a much higher frequency than expected and noted a large amount of chemicals to keep the bacterial growth and algae under control. As a result, periodic cleaning (with the associated downtime) necessitated an increase in maintenance work.
Industrial Water Innovations Cooling Tower Conditioning System was installed in early March, 2019 and positive results started to show 3 weeks after installation.
Image top-left: The system is installed near the tower in an elevated platform above a bank of compressors.
Image top-right: The system was reconfigured from its original square configuration to a wall configuration.
Video on Left: The innovative filter continuously removes debris from the evaporating condenser tower by action of the computer monitored back-flush cycle. The filter design does not contain bags, cartridges or mesh to clean and is maintenance free.
Video on Bottom: The condenser fan introduces flour milled nearby to the tower
The following benefits are observed.
-
The evaporative condenser showed immediate water quality improvements. Just a small amount of filter backwash has replaced the larger amount of blowdown This has resulted in a substantial reduction in water waste, thus lowering the use of chemical corrosion inhibitor, which is still in use due to the network of steel pipes.
-
All bacterial and algae growth is prevented without the use of biocide chemical. A savings of $10,000 per trimester.
-
Eliminated maintenance for the evaporative condenser, which is typically a full day for an external contractor with a vacuum septic tank pump truck for the sludge and a crew of 3 cleaning the basin and coils.
-
Observed the coil pack of the tower improvement in cleanliness. A savings of maintenance activities and associated production downtime to maintain the heat exchange tubing.
-
A noticeable break down of previously formed hard scale deposits, which are now falling into the condenser’s basin, where the system catches them and filters them out.
-
The evaporative condenser continuously becomes cleaner over time and the use of pressure washers will no longer be necessary.
-
The basin blowdown trigger set point for the tower is set at 2800uS. The condenser’s basin is now maintained by the system at around 2400 uS, therefore the blowdown set point is seldom reached.
Image top-left: The fan housing showed large amounts of calcification. Picture taken Feb 21, 2019.
Image right: After a continuous 6 months of operation without any maintenance performed, the same fan housing shows improvement in the amount of calcification and in some areas, bare metal is showing again.
This evaporator has not received any anti scalant or biocide since the installation of the conditioning system. No algae growth is visible anywhere in the structure and the water remains clear and free of foam and odors
