Patent ID: 8785877

Claim:
A method for diagnosing non-uniform fouling in a fill portion of a cooling tower, the method comprising: (a) measuring a first density value of a fill portion of a cooling tower by transmitting radiation through a first part of the cooling tower and detecting radiation that has penetrated through the first part of the cooling tower; (b) measuring one or more density values of the fill portion of the cooling tower by transmitting radiation through one or more parts of the cooling tower and detecting radiation that has penetrated through the one or more parts of the cooling tower, wherein the one or more parts of the cooling tower are different from the first part of the cooling tower; wherein if the density values of the one or more parts are different from the first density value, then the fill portion of the cooling tower has non-uniform fouling; wherein the one or more density values are calculated according to the following equation: I=I o e −ρμx wherein I 2 is the amount of radiation detected through a portion of the cooling tower that does not contain fill; I is the amount of radiation detected through the fill portion; ρ is the calculated density of the fill portion of the cooling tower; x is the thickness of the fill portion; and is an absorption coefficient.