Method, system and program product for monitoring rate of volume change of coolant within a cooling system

A system for monitoring coolant within a cooling system, the system comprising:

• at least one pressure transducer coupled to an expansion tank of the cooling system, wherein the at least one pressure transducer facilitates obtaining multiple pressure measurements related to an amount of coolant within the expansion tank;
• means for determining a rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank employing the multiple pressure measurements;
• means for determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank of the cooling system is increasing or decreasing due to a cooling system defect;
• means for automatically determining type and immediacy of action to be taken to service the cooling system responsive to a comparison of a magnitude of the rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank to multiple predefined leak rate set points, and to the determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank of the cooling system is increasing or decreasing;
• and
• wherein the means for employing comprises means for automatically employing the at least one pressure transducer to obtain multiple differential pressure measurements on the amount of coolant within the expansion tank, each differential pressure measurement comprising a difference in pressure between pressure in a liquid coolant portion of the expansion tank less pressure in a non-liquid portion of the expansion tank.

A method of monitoring coolant within a cooling system, the method comprising:

• (i) employing at least one pressure transducer to facilitate obtaining multiple pressure measurements related to an amount of coolant within an expansion tank of the cooling system;
• (ii) determining a rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank employing the multiple pressure measurements;
• (iii) determining whether a magnitude of the rate of volume change of coolant with the expansion tank is less than a first leak rate set point, and if so, determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank is greater than a preset maximum allowable, and if so, automatically signaling for corrective action to be taken on the cooling system, otherwise repeating the employing (i) and the determining (ii);
• (iv) if the magnitude of the rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank is greater than the first leak rate set point, determining whether the magnitude of the rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank is greater than a second leak rate set point larger than the first leak rate set point, and if so, determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank is increasing, and if so, automatically signaling for corrective action to be taken on the cooling system, otherwise determining that a fast coolant leak exists, and automatically initiating leak isolation protocol;
• and
• (v) if the magnitude of the rate of volume change of coolant within the expansion tank is between the first leak rate set point and the second leak rate set point, determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank is increasing, and if so, automatically signaling for corrective action to be taken on the cooling system, otherwise detecting existence of a slow leak in the cooling system, and determining whether the amount of coolant within the expansion tank is above a minimum allowable amount for operation of the cooling system, and if so, repeating the employing (i) and the determining (ii), otherwise automatically shutting down the cooling system.