JP7585908B2 - Cooling equipment monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cooling equipment monitoring system.

Cooling equipment that uses a cooling tower to cool the cooling water circulating through a specified circulation flow path is widely used. The cooling tower evaporates a portion of the cooling water, releasing energy into the atmosphere as heat of vaporization, thereby lowering the temperature of the cooling water. In cooling equipment that uses a cooling tower, make-up water is supplied to replace the water evaporated in the cooling tower.

In addition, in cooling equipment, the quality of the cooling water may change due to evaporation of water in the cooling tower, the supply of makeup water, etc. For this reason, the cooling equipment may be configured to detect the quality of the cooling water and automatically inject chemicals such as scale inhibitors, pH adjusters, slime control agents, etc. to maintain the quality of the cooling water within a predetermined range. Such cooling equipment is often provided with a means for notifying the system administrator by displaying the measured value of the cooling water quality and the amount of chemicals injected, etc., on a screen or issuing an alarm, so that the system administrator can easily grasp the measured value of the cooling water quality and the amount of chemicals injected. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes sending various measured values of the cooling equipment to a database, and calculating the concentration ratio, chemical concentration, and pH of the cooling water using the data stored in the database, and displaying them on the web.

JP 2019-207629 A

Patent Document 1 also describes that the server analyzes and diagnoses the data stored in the database and displays the results. In cooling equipment that automatically manages the quality of cooling water, if an abnormality occurs in a sensor that detects the water quality, for example, an error will occur in the data that serves as the control input, and the amount of make-up water level supplied, the amount of chemicals injected, etc. may become inappropriate. However, with conventional monitoring systems, even if an abnormality occurs, such as a detection error caused by a dirty sensor, the manager of the cooling equipment cannot easily notice the occurrence of the abnormality. For this reason, the present invention aims to provide a cooling equipment monitoring system that can detect the occurrence of an abnormality in the cooling equipment.

The cooling equipment monitoring system according to one aspect of the present invention is a cooling equipment monitoring system that monitors the operating state of a cooling equipment that cools cooling water using a cooling tower, and includes an inlet temperature acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of the inlet temperature of the cooling water at the inlet of the cooling tower, an outlet temperature acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of the outlet temperature of the cooling water at the outlet of the cooling tower, a supply amount acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of the supply amount of at least one of makeup water and chemicals supplied to the system of the cooling equipment, a theoretical value calculation unit that calculates a theoretical value of the supply amount of at least one of the makeup water and chemicals based on the difference between the detection value of the inlet temperature acquired by the inlet temperature acquisition unit and the detection value of the outlet temperature acquired by the outlet temperature acquisition unit, an abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment based on the detection value of the supply amount acquired by the supply amount acquisition unit and the theoretical value of the supply amount calculated by the theoretical value calculation unit, and a notification unit that notifies the abnormality when the abnormality determination unit determines that there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment.

In the above-mentioned cooling equipment monitoring system, the abnormality determination unit may determine that there is a possibility of a water leak in the cooling equipment if the detected value of the supply amount of makeup water is greater than the theoretical value of the supply amount of makeup water, and may determine that the water quality sensor of the cooling equipment is likely to be dirty if the detected value of the supply amount of makeup water is smaller than the theoretical value of the supply amount of makeup water.

In the above-mentioned cooling equipment monitoring system, the abnormality determination unit may determine that the drug may be leaking if the detected value of the drug supply amount is greater than the theoretical value of the drug supply amount, and may determine that the drug supply device may be clogged if the detected value of the drug supply amount is less than the theoretical value of the drug supply amount.

In the above-mentioned cooling equipment monitoring system, the theoretical value calculation unit may calculate the theoretical value of the supply amount by taking into consideration the relationship between the difference between the past detected values of the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature and the detected value of the supply amount.

The present invention makes it possible to detect abnormalities in cooling equipment.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a cooling equipment monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a cooling equipment monitoring system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The cooling equipment monitoring system 1 is a system that monitors the operating state of the cooling equipment 100. The cooling equipment 100 includes a cooling tower 110 that lowers the temperature of the cooling water by exposing the cooling water to the atmosphere and evaporating a portion of it, a circulation flow path 120 that supplies the cooling water from the cooling tower 110 to a load L, such as a refrigerator, and returns the cooling water whose temperature has increased by providing cold heat to the load L to the cooling tower 110, a water supply mechanism 130 that supplies makeup water to the system to compensate for the cooling water that has evaporated in the cooling tower 110, and a chemical supply device 140 that injects a chemical into the cooling water to maintain the quality of the cooling water constant.

The cooling tower 110 has a sprinkler 111, a filler 112, a recovery water tank 113, a blower 114, an inlet temperature sensor 115, an outlet temperature sensor 116, and a cooling water quality sensor 117.

The sprinkler 111 sprinkles the cooling water returning from the circulation flow path 120 onto the filler 112 from above. As the sprinkler 111, for example, a pipe (sprinkler pipe) with many small holes through which the cooling water flows out, or a shallow container (sprinkler pan) with many small holes formed at the bottom can be used.

The filler 112 improves the contact efficiency between the cooling water sprayed from the sprinkler 111 and the air introduced by the blower 114. For this reason, the filler 112 can be formed into a porous body with a large pore size and porosity so that the cooling water's passing (falling) speed is suppressed while maintaining a large surface area of the cooling water, and the air passage resistance is reduced.

The collected water tank 113 receives and stores the cooling water that has passed through the filler 112. The cooling tower 110 may be configured so that the cooling water is pumped from the collected water tank 113 to the sprinkler 111. The cooling water may also be returned to the collected water tank 113 from the circulation flow path 120.

The blower 114 is disposed above the sprinkler 111 so as to suck in air from the top of the filler 112 and blow the air above the cooling tower 110. This causes air to be supplied to the filler 112 from the side, and the cooling water and air come into contact inside the filler 112.

The inlet temperature sensor 115 detects the inlet temperature, which is the temperature of the cooling water at the inlet of the cooling tower 110. For this reason, the inlet temperature sensor 115 may be disposed in the sprinkler 111 so as to detect the temperature of the cooling water immediately after it is introduced into the cooling tower 110. The inlet temperature sensor 115 may also be disposed in the circulation flow path 120 so as to detect the temperature of the cooling water immediately before it is introduced into the cooling tower 110.

The outlet temperature sensor 116 detects the outlet temperature, which is the temperature of the cooling water at the outlet of the cooling tower 110. For this reason, the outlet temperature sensor 116 may be disposed in the recovery water tank 113 so as to detect the temperature of the cooling water immediately before it is discharged from the cooling tower 110. The outlet temperature sensor 116 may also be disposed in the circulation flow path 120 so as to detect the temperature of the cooling water immediately after it flows out of the cooling tower 110.

The cooling water quality sensor 117 is, for example, an electrical conductivity sensor. The cooling water quality sensor 117 can be arranged to detect the quality of the cooling water in the recovery water tank 113.

The circulation flow path 120 has a circulation pump 121 that sends out cooling water from the recovery water tank 113. At the load L, the cooling water releases cold heat through heat exchange and the temperature rises. As a result, the cooling water with an increased temperature flows back to the cooling tower 110. The circulation pump 121 can be set to send out cooling water at a constant flow rate. This allows the amount of cooling water sprayed by the sprinkler 111 to be kept constant.

The water supply mechanism 130 supplies make-up water, which is supplied from the outside, into the system of the cooling equipment 100 to replenish the cooling water that has evaporated in the filler 112 and dissipated into the outside air. The water supply mechanism 130 may be arranged to supply make-up water to the collected water tank 113. Specifically, the water supply mechanism 130 may be configured to have a ball tap 131 that keeps the level of the cooling water in the collected water tank 113 constant. The water supply mechanism 130 may also have a dilution valve 132 that opens and closes according to the detection value of the cooling water quality sensor 117 in order to supply make-up water to dilute the cooling water when the cooling water becomes concentrated. Furthermore, the water supply mechanism 130 has a make-up water quality sensor 133 that detects the quality of the make-up water, and a make-up water flow meter 134 that detects the supply amount of make-up water.

The chemical supply device 140 supplies chemicals such as scale inhibitors, slime control agents, and corrosion inhibitors to the cooling equipment 100 system so as to maintain the quality of the cooling water within a certain range. The chemical supply device 140 can be arranged to feed chemicals into the recovery water tank 113. The chemical supply device 140 has a chemical tank 141 that stores the chemicals, and a chemical pump 142 that delivers the chemicals from the chemical tank 141. The chemical supply device 140 is also provided with a chemical supply amount meter 143 that measures the amount of chemicals supplied. The chemical supply amount meter 143 can be composed of a level sensor that measures the remaining amount of chemicals in the chemical tank 141, a discharge amount checker or flow meter that detects the discharge amount of the chemical pump 142, or the like. The chemical supply device 140 sets the amount of chemicals required per unit amount of makeup water according to the detection value of the makeup water quality sensor 133, and injects the chemicals into the cooling water according to the makeup water supply amount detected by the feed water flow meter 134.

The cooling equipment monitoring system 1, which monitors the operating state of the cooling equipment 100 having the above configuration, includes an inlet temperature acquisition unit 10, an outlet temperature acquisition unit 20, a makeup water supply amount acquisition unit 30, a drug supply amount acquisition unit 40, a theoretical value calculation unit 50, an abnormality determination unit 60, and an alarm unit 70.

The cooling equipment monitoring system 1 can be realized by executing an appropriate program on one or more computer devices having a memory, a CPU, an input/output interface, etc. Each component of the cooling equipment monitoring system 1 is a classification of the functions of the cooling equipment monitoring system 1, and does not have to be clearly distinguishable in terms of its physical configuration and program configuration. In addition, the cooling equipment monitoring system 1 may be integrated with the control device of the cooling equipment 100 or in one-to-one correspondence with the cooling equipment 100, but it may also be connected to multiple cooling equipment 100 via a network and configured to monitor the operating status of multiple cooling equipment 100.

The inlet temperature acquisition unit 10 acquires the detection value of the inlet temperature from the inlet temperature sensor 115. It is preferable that the inlet temperature acquisition unit 10 is configured to acquire the detection value of the inlet temperature sensor 115 at regular time intervals and store time series data of the acquired detection value of the inlet temperature.

The outlet temperature acquisition unit 20 acquires the detected value of the outlet temperature from the outlet temperature sensor 116. It is preferable that the outlet temperature acquisition unit 20 is configured to acquire the detected value of the outlet temperature sensor 116 at regular time intervals and store time series data of the acquired detected value of the outlet temperature.

The makeup water supply amount acquisition unit 30 may be configured to acquire a detection value of the makeup water supply amount by integrating the flow rate detected by the feed water flow meter 134. The makeup water supply amount acquisition unit 30 is preferably configured to calculate the detection value of the makeup water supply amount at regular time intervals and store time series data of the calculated detection value of the makeup water supply amount.

The drug supply amount acquisition unit 40 acquires the detection value of the drug supply amount from the drug supply amount meter 143. It is preferable that the drug supply amount acquisition unit 40 is configured to acquire the detection value of the drug supply amount meter 143 at regular time intervals and store time series data of the acquired detection value of the drug supply amount.

The theoretical value calculation unit 50 calculates the theoretical values of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount based on the difference between the detected value of the inlet temperature acquired by the inlet temperature acquisition unit 10 and the detected value of the outlet temperature acquired by the outlet temperature acquisition unit 20. Specifically, the amount of cold energy consumed in the load L is the difference between the detected value of the inlet temperature and the detected value of the outlet temperature multiplied by the flow rate of the cooling water in the circulation flow path 120. Therefore, the theoretical value calculation unit 50 can calculate the amount of evaporation of the cooling water in the cooling tower 110, that is, the theoretical value of the makeup water supply amount, assuming that this consumed amount of cold energy is equal to the latent heat of evaporation in the cooling tower 110. In addition, the theoretical value of the chemical supply amount can be calculated as the product of the supply amount of chemicals required per unit amount of makeup water calculated from the detection value of the makeup water quality sensor 133 and the theoretical value of the makeup water supply amount.

The theoretical value calculation unit 50 may also calculate the theoretical values of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount, taking into account the relationship between the difference between the past detection value of the inlet temperature and the detection value of the outlet temperature and the detection value of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount. In the actual cooling equipment 100, an operation in which a part of the cooling water is discharged from the system from the middle of the circulation flow path 120 may be performed on a daily basis. In such a case, the amount of cooling water discharged outside the system can be estimated by checking the correlation between the difference between the detection value of the inlet temperature and the detection value of the outlet temperature, which indicates the amount of cold energy consumed at the load L during the past operation of the cooling equipment 100, and the detection values of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount. Therefore, the theoretical value calculation unit 50 may calculate the theoretical values of the feed water supply amount and the chemical supply amount as a value obtained by adding the estimated amount of the cooling water discharged outside the system.

The amount of cooling water discharged from the cooling equipment 100 to the outside of the system can be estimated by well-known statistical methods as a fixed amount (proportional to time), an amount proportional to the amount of cold energy consumed, an amount expressed as a function of the amount of cold energy consumed, or the like. As a simple example, the ratio of the average value of the detected amounts of makeup water supply and chemical supply to the average value of the difference between the detected values of the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature for a certain period up to the previous time can be calculated, and the theoretical value of the makeup water supply and chemical supply can be determined by multiplying this ratio by the difference between the detected values of the current inlet temperature and the outlet temperature. In addition, when the cooling equipment monitoring system 1 monitors the operating state of multiple cooling equipment 100, the data of the multiple cooling equipment 100 can be statistically processed to calculate the theoretical values of the makeup water supply and chemical supply.

The abnormality determination unit 60 determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment 100 based on the detected value of the outlet temperature acquired by the makeup water supply amount acquisition unit 30 and the detected value of the chemical supply amount acquired by the chemical supply amount acquisition unit 40, and the theoretical values of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount calculated by the theoretical value calculation unit 50. In other words, the abnormality determination unit 60 can be configured to determine that there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment 100 when there is a significant difference between the actual value and the theoretical value of the makeup water supply amount and when there is a significant difference between the actual value and the theoretical value of the chemical supply amount.

The abnormality determination unit 60 may be configured to identify the type of abnormality that may have occurred in the cooling equipment 100 according to the magnitude relationship between the detected values of the makeup water supply amount and the chemical supply amount and the theoretical value. For example, the abnormality determination unit 60 may determine that there is a possibility of water leakage in the cooling equipment 100 when the detected value of the makeup water supply amount is significantly larger than the theoretical value of the makeup water supply amount, and may determine that the cooling water quality sensor 117 of the cooling equipment 100 may be dirty when the detected value of the makeup water supply amount is significantly smaller than the theoretical value of the makeup water supply amount. In addition, the abnormality determination unit 60 may determine that there is a possibility of chemicals leaking from the chemical tank 141 to the outside when the detected value of the chemical supply amount is significantly larger than the theoretical value of the chemical supply amount, and may determine that there is a possibility of piping of the chemical supply device 140 being clogged when the detected value of the chemical supply amount is significantly smaller than the theoretical value of the chemical supply amount. The magnitude relationship between the detected value and the theoretical value can be determined by whether or not the difference or ratio between them is within a range that is considered to be equivalent and set in advance. In addition, whether or not there is a significant difference between the detected value and the theoretical value may be determined by statistical processing.

The notification unit 70 notifies the cooling equipment 100 when the abnormality determination unit 60 determines that there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment 100. The abnormality can be notified, for example, by outputting an abnormality notification signal to the cooling equipment 100, automatically sending an email to the manager of the cooling equipment 100, etc.

The notification unit 70 may report the inlet and outlet temperatures, the amount of makeup water supplied, the amount of chemicals supplied, etc. to the manager of the cooling equipment 100 at a predetermined timing, not just when the abnormality determination unit 60 determines that there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment 100. In other words, the notification unit 70 may improve the reliability of the cooling equipment 100 by reporting information that allows the operating status of the cooling equipment 100 to be confirmed.

The cooling equipment monitoring system 1 includes a theoretical value calculation unit 50 that calculates theoretical values of the supply amounts of make-up water and chemicals based on the difference between the inlet temperature and outlet temperature of the cooling water in the cooling tower 110, and is therefore capable of calculating theoretical values of the necessary supply amounts of make-up water, etc., in addition to supply control of make-up water and chemicals using general indices such as electrical conductivity. Furthermore, the cooling equipment monitoring system 1 includes an abnormality determination unit 60 that determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment 100 based on the detected values of the supply amounts acquired by the make-up water supply amount acquisition unit 30 and the chemical supply amount acquisition unit 40, and the theoretical value of the supply amount calculated by the theoretical value calculation unit 50, and is therefore capable of detecting the likelihood of an abnormality in the supply control of make-up water, etc., or an abnormality in the equipment that generates an unexpected load.

The cooling equipment monitoring system 1 can detect the possibility of a water leak or an abnormality in the cooling water quality sensor 117 by checking the deviation between the detected value of the makeup water supply amount and the theoretical value in the abnormality determination unit 60. The cooling equipment monitoring system 1 can also detect the possibility of an abnormality in the drug supply device 140 by checking the deviation between the detected value of the drug supply amount and the theoretical value in the abnormality determination unit 60.

By considering the relationship between the difference between the past detected values of the inlet temperature and the outlet temperature and the detected value of the supply amount, the cooling equipment monitoring system 1 can calculate a theoretical value of the supply amount that takes into account special operations that are performed on a daily basis, such as intentionally discharging cooling water outside the system other than evaporation in the cooling tower 110. This makes it possible to detect the likelihood of unintentional cooling water leakage that is different from the normal operation, without determining that normal operation is abnormal.

The above describes a preferred embodiment of the cooling equipment monitoring system according to the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified as appropriate. For example, the cooling equipment monitoring system according to the present invention may be configured to determine the presence or absence of an abnormality in the cooling equipment based on only one of the amount of makeup water supplied and the amount of chemicals supplied.

The drug supply device in the cooling equipment to which the cooling equipment monitoring system of the present invention is applied is not limited to one that injects a drug in response to the detected value of the quality of the cooling water, but may be configured to inject a preset amount of drug at a certain time, for example, using a timer. In such a case, the cooling equipment monitoring system may detect the possibility of a malfunction in the setting value of the drug supply device as a possible abnormality in the cooling equipment.

LIST OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling equipment monitoring system 10 Inlet temperature acquisition unit 20 Outlet temperature acquisition unit 30 Make-up water supply amount acquisition unit 40 Chemical supply amount acquisition unit 50 Theoretical value calculation unit 60 Abnormality determination unit 70 Notification unit 100 Cooling equipment 110 Cooling tower 111 Sprinkler 112 Filling material 121 Circulation pump 113 Recovery water tank 114 Blower 115 Inlet temperature sensor 116 Outlet temperature sensor 117 Cooling water quality sensor 120 Circulation flow path 131 Ball tap 132 Dilution valve 133 Make-up water quality sensor 134 Supply water flow meter 130 Water supply mechanism 140 Chemical supply device 141 Chemical tank 142 Chemical pump 143 Make-up water quality sensor 143 Chemical supply amount meter L Load

Claims (4)

A cooling equipment monitoring system for monitoring an operating state of a cooling equipment that cools cooling water by a cooling tower, comprising:
An inlet temperature acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of an inlet temperature of the cooling water at the inlet of the cooling tower;
An outlet temperature acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of an outlet temperature of the cooling water at the outlet of the cooling tower;
a supply amount acquisition unit that acquires a detection value of a supply amount of at least one of makeup water and chemicals supplied into a system of the cooling equipment;
a theoretical value calculation unit that calculates a theoretical value of the supply amount of at least one of the makeup water and the chemical based on a difference between the detection value of the inlet temperature acquired by the inlet temperature acquisition unit and the detection value of the outlet temperature acquired by the outlet temperature acquisition unit;
an abnormality determination unit that determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the cooling equipment based on the detected value of the supply amount acquired by the supply amount acquisition unit and the theoretical value of the supply amount calculated by the theoretical value calculation unit;
a notification unit that notifies the user when the abnormality determination unit determines that an abnormality exists in the cooling equipment;
A cooling equipment monitoring system comprising: The abnormality determination unit
When the detected value of the supply amount of makeup water is greater than the theoretical value of the supply amount of makeup water, it is determined that there is a possibility of a water leak in the cooling equipment,
2. The cooling equipment monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein when the detected value of the supply amount of makeup water is smaller than a theoretical value of the supply amount of makeup water, it is determined that a water quality sensor of the cooling equipment may be contaminated. The abnormality determination unit
If the detected value of the supply amount of the medicine is greater than the theoretical value of the supply amount of the medicine, it is determined that there is a possibility that the medicine is leaking,
3. The cooling equipment monitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising: determining that there is a possibility that the chemical supply device is clogged when the detected value of the chemical supply amount is smaller than a theoretical value of the chemical supply amount. 4. The cooling equipment monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the theoretical value calculation unit calculates the theoretical value of the supply amount by taking into consideration a relationship between a difference between a past detection value of the inlet temperature and a past detection value of the outlet temperature and the detection value of the supply amount.

Images