Operation of cooling tower and boiler systems requires frequentmonitoring of water chemistry parameters to obtain the necessaryinformation for adjustments to the water treatment program. Failure toperform the necessary adjustments can result in reduced service life andpoor energy efficiency resulting from corrosion, scale and fouling. Ahybrid absorbance/emission spectrometer is proposed as the key sensor in anon-line system for automatic monitoring and expert system control ofcooling tower and boiler systems. The absorbance portion of the system usesa field proven technique for on-line analysis of process solutions usingspecially calibrated pattern recognition algorithms to interpret the UV-VISabsorbance signatures obtained at frequent intervals using a series of twoflow cells of differing path lengths. The emission portion of the system isa patented technique that uses a special flow cell in series with theabsorbance cells to energize a sample with an arc discharge and collect theresulting emission pulse using a fiber-optic probe. Absorbance and emissionspectra are detected and interpreted using a common spectrograph andembedded computer. They system also includes non-optical sensors such aspH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature. The system is capableof simultaneously detecting the major water quality and treatment chemicalparameters required to monitor and adjust cooling or boiler water treatmentprograms.
