Intelligent Cooling Tower Status Monitoring
The client in this customer success story is a chemical plant that manufactures, processes, and handles chemical products. Its operations rely on critical equipment such as boilers, distillation columns, reactors, and cooling towers to produce high-value products.
Cooling towers play a vital role in removing excess heat from the production process. Using water and fans to circulate air, the cooling towers dissipate heat and help maintain safe and efficient operating temperatures. This technology is also widely used by refineries, thermal power plants, and nuclear power plants.
This case study highlights how the customer implemented ICP DAS USA’s intelligent cooling tower monitoring solution, leveraging Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology for data collection. This solution enables real-time performance monitoring, fan drive system fault diagnostics, and early detection of cooling system issues (Predictive Maintenance), helping improve reliability and operational efficiency.
ICP DAS USA’s solution:
Because the site includes a large number of devices that require monitoring, ICP DAS USA recommended the ET-87P8-MTCP 8-slot intelligent Ethernet I/O expansion unit to simplify wiring and system integration. Combining the ET-87P8-MTCP with the I-87017ZW voltage/current input module, facilitated the collection of key operating data, including cooling tower outlet pressure, water level, and cooling fan motor current.
The solution works like this:
Because the site includes a large number of devices that require monitoring, ICP DAS USA recommended the ET-87P8-MTCP 8-slot intelligent Ethernet I/O expansion unit to simplify wiring and system integration. Combining the ET-87P8-MTCP with the I-87017ZW voltage/current input module, facilitated the collection of key operating data, including cooling tower outlet pressure, water level, and cooling fan motor current.
The I-87015PW RTD input module monitors hot-water temperature, cold-water temperature, and wet-bulb temperature. All data is transmitted via Modbus TCP over Ethernet to the GRP-540M-4GE Ethernet/Serial/CAN-to-4G gateway.
To monitor equipment health, the PET-AR400 PoE Ethernet high-speed data acquisition module captured vibration data from the cooling fan gearbox and motor through the iSN-701-F15-L030 IEPE accelerometer. This vibration data is also sent to the GRP-540M-4GE gateway via Modbus TCP over Ethernet.
The GRP-540M-4GE gateway then transmits all field data to the central SCADA system through a 4G wireless connection. This enables real-time cooling tower performance analysis, fan drive system fault diagnosis, and early detection of cooling system degradation or damage.
The system architecture is shown below.
Conclusion:
Using ICP DAS USA’s solution, the customer successfully implemented a remote monitoring and predictive maintenance system. Real-time visibility into system performance enables operators to quickly identify issues, determine root causes, and take preventive action to minimize downtime and improve reliability.
