Power plants produce large amounts of waste heat as a byproduct of their operations, and must cool their circulating water. Open-system cooling towers reject waste heat from the steam cycle by exposing the cooling water directly to the atmosphere. The majority of heat removed is due to evaporation and the remaining cooled water is collected in cooling tower basins. In a once-through cooling system, the water intake structure is often a vertical wet pit pump; other cooling systems use gravity drip in order to introduce water into the system.
Magnetrol® has produced an applications brochure for the power and utilities industry, detailing measurement challenges and solutions for each step of the power generation process. This blog post is part of an occasional series exploring each application in detail.
Level Measurement Challenges and Considerations
Water infeed and basin levels of the cooling tower require level sensing and control. Level control applications include a high level switch to avoid overflow conditions in the cooling tower basin.
In the case of a once-through cooling system using a vertical wet pit pump for water intake, high and low level sensing and possible pump control are needed to make sure the intake system is operating correctly.
In frigid climates, a level switch can work in tandem with a resistance heater to protect standing water in the cooling tower basin against freezing.
In all cases, protecting and securing the accurate level of cooling tower basins and water infeeds is key to efficiency and safety.
Level Measurement Solutions
MAGNETROL has produced level measurement solutions for cooling tower basins:
- Models A15 or B10 displacer-actuated switches
- Eclipse® Model 706 guided wave radar transmitter
For more information on level measurement solutions for cooling tower basins and other industry applications, download the power industry brochure.