Cooling tower

By: meet shah & arpit thumar

Cooling Tower
What is a cooling tower? Cooled water is needed for, for example, air conditioners, manufacturing processes or power generation. A cooling tower is an equipment used to reduce the temperature of a water stream by extracting heat from water and emitting it to the atmosphere. Cooling towers make use of evaporation whereby some of the water is evaporated into a moving air stream and subsequently discharged into the atmosphere. As a result, the remainder of the water is cooled down significantly (Figure 1). Cooling towers are able to lower the water temperatures more than devices that use only air to reject heat, like the radiator in a car, and are therefore more cost-effective and energy efficient.

Principle Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature Rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature

Structure

Components of a cooling tower

The basic components of a cooling tower include the frame and casing, fill, cold-water basin, drift eliminators, air inlet, louvers, nozzles and fans. These are described below. Frame and casing. Most towers have structural frames that support the exterior enclosures (casings), motors, fans, and other components. With some smaller designs, such as some glass fiber units, the casing may essentially be the frame. Fill. Most towers employ fills (made of plastic or wood) to facilitate heat transfer by maximizing water and air contact. There are two types of fill: Splash fill: water falls over successive layers of horizontal splash bars, continuously breaking into smaller droplets, while also wetting the fill surface. Plastic splash fills promote better heat transfer than wood splash fills. Film fill: consists of thin, closely spaced plastic surfaces over which the water spreads, forming a thin film in contact with the air. These surfaces may be flat, corrugated, honeycombed, or other patterns. The film type of fill is the more efficient and provides same heat transfer in a smaller volume than the splash fill.

Cold-water basin. The cold-water basin is located at or near the bottom of the tower, and it receives the cooled water that flows down through the tower and fill. The basin usually has a sump or low point for the cold-water discharge connection. In many tower designs, the coldwater basin is beneath the entire fill. In some forced draft counter flow design, however, the water at the bottom of the fill is channeled to a perimeter trough that functions as the coldwater basin. Propeller fans are mounted beneath the fill to blow the air up through the tower. With this design, the tower is mounted on legs, providing easy access to the fans and their motors. Drift eliminators. These capture water droplets entrapped in the air stream that otherwise would be lost to the atmosphere. Air inlet. This is the point of entry for the air entering a tower. The inlet may take up an entire side of a tower (cross-flow design) or be located low on the side or the bottom of the tower (counter-flow design).

Louvers. Generally, cross-flow towers have inlet louvers. The purpose of louvers is to equalize air flow into the fill and retain the water within the tower. Many counter flow tower designs do not require louvers. Nozzles. These spray water to wet the fill. Uniform water distribution at the top of the fill is essential to achieve proper wetting of the entire fill surface. Nozzles can either be fixed and spray in a round or square patterns, or they can be part of a rotating assembly as found in some circular cross-section towers. Fans. Both axial (propeller type) and centrifugal fans are used in towers. Generally, propeller fans are used in induced draft towers and both propeller and centrifugal fans are found in forced draft towers. A fan with non-automatic adjustable pitch blades can be used over a wide kW range because the fan can be adjusted to deliver the desired air flow at the lowest power consumption. Automatic variable pitch blades can vary air flow in response to changing load conditions.

Tower materials (MOC)

Frame and casing. Wooden towers are still available, but many components are made of different materials, such as the casing around the wooden framework of glass fiber, the inlet air louvers of glass fiber, the fill of plastic and the coldwater basin of steel. Many towers (casings and basins) are constructed of galvanized steel or, where a corrosive atmosphere is a problem, the tower and/or the basis are made of stainless steel. Larger towers sometimes are made of concrete. Glass fiber is also widely used for cooling tower casings and basins, because they extend the life of the cooling tower and provide protection against harmful chemicals.

Fill. Plastics are widely used for fill, including PVC, polypropylene, and other polymers. When water conditions require the use of splash fill, treated wood splash fill is still used in wooden towers, but plastic splash fill is also widely used. Because of greater heat transfer efficiency, film fill is chosen for applications where the circulating water is generally free of debris that could block the fill passageways. Nozzles. Plastics are also widely used for nozzles. Many nozzles are made of PVC, ABS, polypropylene, and glass-filled nylon. Fans. Aluminum, glass fiber and hot-dipped galvanized steel are commonly used fan materials. Centrifugal fans are often fabricated from galvanized steel. Propeller fans are made from galvanized steel, aluminum, or molded glass fiber reinforced plastic.

TYPES OF COOLING TOWERS

This section describes the two main types of cooling towers: the natural draft and mechanical draft cooling towers. 1. Natural draft cooling tower The natural draft or hyperbolic cooling tower makes use of the difference in temperature between the ambient air and the hotter air inside the tower. As hot air moves upwards through the tower (because hot air rises), fresh cool air is drawn into the tower through an air inlet at the bottom. Due to the layout of the tower, no fan is required and there is almost no circulation of hot air that could affect the performance. Concrete is used for the tower shell with a height of up to 200 m. These cooling towers are mostly only for large heat duties because large concrete structures are expensive.

There are two main types of natural draft towers: Cross flow tower : air is drawn across the falling water and the fill is located outside the tower Counter flow tower : air is drawn up through the falling water and the fill is therefore located inside the tower, although design depends on specific site conditions

[Link] draft cooling tower

Mechanical draft towers have large fans to force or draw air through circulated water. The water falls downwards over fill surfaces, which help increase the contact time between the water and the air - this helps maximize heat transfer between the two. Cooling rates of mechanical draft towers depend upon various parameters such as fan diameter and speed of operation, fills for system resistance etc.

Mechanical draft towers are available in a large range of capacities. Towers can be either factory built or field erected for example concrete towers are only field erected. Many towers are constructed so that they can be grouped together to achieve the desired capacity. Thus, many cooling towers are assemblies of two or more individual cooling towers or cells. The number of cells they have, e.g., a eight-cell tower, often refers to such towers. Multiple-cell towers can be lineal, square, or round depending upon the shape of the individual cells and whether the air inlets are located on the sides or bottoms of the cells. The three types of mechanical draft towers are summarized in Table 1.

Main features of different types of draft cooling towers

Type of cooling tower Forced draft cooling tower: air is blown through the tower by a fan located in the air inlet
Advantages Suited for high air resistance due to centrifugal blower fans Fans are relatively quiet Disadvantages Recirculation due to high air-entry and low air-exit velocities, which can be solved by locating towers in plant rooms combined with discharge ducts

Induced draft cross flow cooling tower: water enters at top and passes over fill, air enters on one side (single-flow tower) or opposite sides (double-flow tower) an induced draft fan draws air across fill towards exit at top of tower
Induced draft counter flow cooling tower: hot water enters at the top air enters bottom and exits at the top uses forced and induced draft fans

Less recirculation than forced draft towers because the speed of exit air is 3-4 times higher than entering air

Fans and the motor drive mechanism require weather-proofing against moisture and corrosion because they are in the path of humid exit air

Forced Draft Cooling Tower

Induced draft counter flow cooling tower

Induced draft cross flow cooling tower

Actual set up diagram

ASSESSMENT OF COOLING TOWERS

This section describes how the performance of cooling powers can be assessed. The performance of cooling towers is evaluated to assess present levels of approach and range against their design values, identify areas of energy wastage and to suggest improvements. During the performance evaluation, portable monitoring instruments are used to measure the following parameters: Wet bulb temperature of air Dry bulb temperature of air Cooling tower inlet water temperature Cooling tower outlet water temperature Exhaust air temperature Water flow rate Air flow rate

These measured parameters and then used to determine the cooling tower performance in several ways. (Note: CT = cooling tower; CW = cooling water). These are: a) Range (see Figure 7). This is the difference between the cooling tower water inlet and outlet temperature. A high CT Range means that the cooling tower has been able to reduce the water temperature effectively, and is thus performing well. The formula is: CT Range (C) = [CW inlet temp (C) CW outlet temp (C)] b) Approach (see Figure 7). This is the difference between the cooling tower outlet coldwater temperature and ambient wet bulb temperature. The lower the approach the better the cooling tower performance. Although, both range and approach should be monitored, the `Approach is a better indicator of cooling tower performance. CT Approach (C) = [CW outlet temp (C) Wet bulb temp (C)] c) Effectiveness. This is the ratio between the range and the ideal range (in percentage), i.e. difference between cooling water inlet temperature and ambient wet bulb temperature, or in other words it is = Range / (Range + Approach). The higher this ratio, the higher the cooling tower effectiveness. CT Effectiveness (%) = 100 x (CW temp CW out temp) / (CW in temp WB temp)

 d) Cooling capacity. This is the heat rejected in kCal/hr or TR, given as product of mass flow rate of water, specific heat and temperature difference. e) Evaporation loss. This is the water quantity evaporated for cooling duty. Theoretically the evaporation quantity works out to 1.8 m3 for every 1,000,000 kCal heat rejected. The following formula can be used (Perry): Evaporation loss (m3/hr) = 0.00085 x 1.8 x circulation rate (m3/hr) x (T1-T2) T1 - T2 = temperature difference between inlet and outlet water

Liquid/Gas (L/G) ratio. The L/G ratio of a cooling tower is the ratio between the water and the air mass flow rates. Cooling towers have certain design values, but seasonal variations require adjustment and tuning of water and air flow rates to get the best cooling tower effectiveness. Adjustments can be made by water box loading changes or blade angle adjustments. Thermodynamic rules also dictate that the heat removed from the water must be equal to the heat absorbed by the surrounding air. Therefore the following formulae can be used: L(T1 T2) = G(h2 h1) L/G = (h2 h1) / (T1 T2) Where: L/G = liquid to gas mass flow ratio (kg/kg) T1 = hot water temperature (0C) T2 = cold-water temperature (0C) h2 = enthalpy of air-water vapor mixture at exhaust wet-bulb temperature (same units as above) h1 = enthalpy of air-water vapor mixture at inlet wet-bulb temperature (same units as above)

ENERGY EFFICIENCY OPPORTUNITIES

This section includes main areas for improving energy efficiency of cooling towers. The main areas for energy conservation include: Selecting the right cooling tower (because the structural aspects of the cooling tower cannot be changed after it is installed) Fills Pumps and water distribution system Fans and motors

Thank you