Richmond Industries Invests $150,000 in New Cooling System for Foundry Melt Operations
In April of 2017 Richmond Industries purchased an open fiberglass cooling tower along with a water-to-water plate and frame heat exchanger, including a dual filtration system and pumping module. Installation of the new system started during our summer shutdown, which began on July 24th.
The new closed loop cooling system will not only be more efficient, but will also reduce our maintenance costs while eliminating unnecessary downtime. The existing 18-year-old system used water to cool the furnaces and had many issues caused by poor water quality.
The new system utilizes a water-to-water plate and frame heat exchanger installed inside the building. It will use cold filtered water from an outside open cooler made of fiberglass. The system has been sized to handle over 1750 KW of induction heat load that powers our six furnaces. Although the system still uses water to carry heat away from the furnaces, it will be a closed loop system on the furnace side of the cooling system, thereby eliminating plugging caused by contamination and poor water quality.
“This investment will service our furnace and power supplies for many years to come,” explained Ed Chando, Richmond’s foundry manager.
This article was published in the Industry News of Metal Casting Design & Purchasing’s September-October 2017 issue.