Illustrative scenario
Cooling tower blowdown optimization
Illustrative scenario — representative of common industrial IoT applications
Cooling towersWaterManufacturing — automotive, plastics & rubberBuilding Materials & Heavy Industry
Blowdown running on a timer instead of on conductivity, discharging good water.
A plastics manufacturing plant
How it went.
Every study on this site runs the same four beats, in the same order.
01
Alert
A timer does not know the water chemistry. It blows down on schedule whether the tower needs it or not, and the make-up water pays for it.
02
Cost
1 setpoint changed — Blowdown moved from a fixed timer to a measured conductivity threshold.
03
Fix
Make-up and blowdown flow meters · Conductivity monitoring on the tower basin · Cycles-of-concentration trending
04
Restored
Blowdown on a measured conductivity threshold
In full.
Illustrative scenario — representative of common industrial IoT applications.
The problem
A timer does not know the water chemistry. It blows down on schedule whether the tower needs it or not, and the make-up water pays for it.
What would be installed
- Make-up and blowdown flow meters
- Conductivity monitoring on the tower basin
- Cycles-of-concentration trending
What changes
Before — Blowdown on a timer After — Blowdown on a measured conductivity threshold
The number
1 setpoint changed — Blowdown moved from a fixed timer to a measured conductivity threshold. Illustrative scenario, not a client result. Figure is representative, not measured. [TOM-REVIEW]
In one line
A water balance on a cooling tower is a short chart with a large number at the end of it.
What the data looked like.
Hover or arrow-key across the trace to read any interval. The flagged point is the one that started the conversation.
| From | To | Value (L/min) |
|---|---|---|
| Make-up water | Evaporation | 62 |
| Make-up water | Blowdown | 38 |
| Make-up water | Unaccounted | 14 |
| Recovered condensate | Evaporation | 11 |
| Make-up water | Drift | 6 |
| Before | Blowdown on a timer |
|---|---|
| After | Blowdown on a measured conductivity threshold |
Illustrative dataset — a representative operational profile, seeded and deterministic, not measured at any site.
What changed.
Before
Blowdown on a timer
After
Blowdown on a measured conductivity threshold
1 setpoint
changed
Blowdown moved from a fixed timer to a measured conductivity threshold.
Source: Illustrative scenario, not a client result. Figure is representative, not measured. [TOM-REVIEW]
Where to go next.
The sector, the sibling studies, and the calculator that runs this same arithmetic on your own numbers.
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A leaking cooling loop found and isolated with the line still running.
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Illustrative scenario
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Refrigeration condenser fouling detection
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Rising head pressure at constant load — a fouled condenser, priced.
Head pressurevs. load
Illustrative scenario
WaterFood & Beverage Processing
Weekend ghost flow in an empty building
A food processing plant
Water still running through an empty plant all weekend — around a fifth of the monthly bill.
~20%of the monthly water bill
Illustrative scenario
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