Cooling Tower Water Treatment Using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Project

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

Ellensburg

Event Website

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source

Start Date

16-5-2021

End Date

22-5-2021

Keywords

Engineering, PLC, Cooling tower

Abstract

In water cooling towers used in industrial applications, continual use can lead to scaling, fouling, and corrosion inside the towers. These undesirable effects can lead to expensive equipment repair and plant downtime. This presentation will discuss the process of combating these problems with an automated system run by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) that can prevent the listed problems by measuring conductivity, measured in microSiemens per centimeter (us/cm) and monitoring the number of cooling towers active. Furthermore, this presentation will analyze the effectiveness of the PLC bleed and seed system used to lower the conductivity and pH levels of the cooling tower water, and this will be shown by graphing the conductivity level over time, with an emphasis on the regions where the cooling tower treatment is active. This bleed and seed system is controlled by a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) loop to change the chemical pumps speeds as necessary. The conclusion of this presentation should display the effectiveness of this project and map out the process used to achieve these results. Winner, College of Education and Professional Studies Presentation Award.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Lad Holden

Department/Program

Engineering Technologies, Safety, and Construction

Additional Mentoring Department

https://cwu.studentopportunitycenter.com/cooling-tower-water-treatment-using-programmable-logic-controller-plc-project/

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May 16th, 12:00 PM May 22nd, 12:00 PM

Cooling Tower Water Treatment Using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) Project

Ellensburg

In water cooling towers used in industrial applications, continual use can lead to scaling, fouling, and corrosion inside the towers. These undesirable effects can lead to expensive equipment repair and plant downtime. This presentation will discuss the process of combating these problems with an automated system run by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) that can prevent the listed problems by measuring conductivity, measured in microSiemens per centimeter (us/cm) and monitoring the number of cooling towers active. Furthermore, this presentation will analyze the effectiveness of the PLC bleed and seed system used to lower the conductivity and pH levels of the cooling tower water, and this will be shown by graphing the conductivity level over time, with an emphasis on the regions where the cooling tower treatment is active. This bleed and seed system is controlled by a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) loop to change the chemical pumps speeds as necessary. The conclusion of this presentation should display the effectiveness of this project and map out the process used to achieve these results. Winner, College of Education and Professional Studies Presentation Award.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2021/CEPS/9