COOLING TOWER

Nirav J Bhavsar
Department of Chemical Engineering
DDU, Nadiad
 Outline of presentation….
• Introduction
• Main features of cooling tower
• Different components of cooling tower
• Material balance of water around cooling tower
• Types of cooling tower
• Assesment/Performance of cooling tower

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 2

 • Equipment for Humidification and
Dehumidification:

» Cooling tower
» Tray towers
» Spray chambers
» Spray ponds

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 3

 COOLING TOWER
• Introduction:
– Water and air are brought into intimate contact in cooling tower.
– Used to reject heat into atmosphere by reducing the temperature
of a water stream by extracting heat from water and emitting it
to the atmosphere.
– Rejection of heat is through natural process of evaporation.
– Evaporation is most efficient for maximum flow of air with
maximum exposure of water surface area.
– The tower works similarly to how an air conditioner cools a
room.

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 4

• Introduction:

Main Features of Cooling tower

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 5

 1. Fan 2. Drift eliminator 3. Warm water
4. Water distribution 5. Water sprinkling nozzle 6. Fill packing
4/19/2020 7. Air inlet 8. WaterNirav J.pool
Bhavsar 9. Cooled water 6
 Components
• 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.
• 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
– It can be located low on the side or the bottom of the tower (counter-flow design).
• 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.

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 7

 Components
• Frame and casing.
– Most towers have structural frames that support the exterior enclosures
(casings), motors, fans, and other components.

• 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.
– It receives the cooled water that flows down through the tower and fill.
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 8
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 9
• Windage or Drift
– Water droplets that are carried out of the cooling tower with the exhaust
air.
– Drift droplets have the same concentration of impurities as the water
entering the tower.
– The drift rate is typically reduced by employing baffle-like devices,
called drift eliminators, through which the air must travel after leaving
the fill and spray zones of the tower.
– Drift can also be reduced by using warmer entering cooling tower
temperatures.
• Blow-out
– Water droplets blown out of the cooling tower by wind, generally at
the air inlet openings.
– Water may also be lost, in the absence of wind, through splashing or
misting.
– Devices such as wind screens, louvers, splash deflectors and water
diverters are used to eliminate these losses.
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 10
• Plume
– The stream of saturated exhaust air leaving the cooling
tower.
– The plume is visible when water vapor it contains
condenses in contact with cooler ambient air, like the
saturated air in one's breath fogs on a cold day.
– Under certain conditions, a cooling tower plume may
present fogging or icing hazards to its surroundings.
– Note that the water evaporated in the cooling process is
"pure" water, in contrast to the very small percentage of
drift droplets or water blown out of the air inlets.

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 11

Draw-off or Blow-down

– The portion of the circulating water flow that is removed (usually

discharged to a drain) in order to maintain the amount of Total
Dissolved Solids (TDS) and other impurities at an acceptably low level.
– Higher TDS concentration in solution may result from greater cooling
tower efficiency.
– However, the higher the TDS concentration, the greater the risk of
scale, biological growth and corrosion.
– The amount of blow-down is primarily designated by measuring by
the electrical conductivity of the circulating water.
– Biological growth, scaling and corrosion can be prevented by
chemicals (respectively, biocide, sulfuric acid, corrosion inhibitor).
– On the other hand, the only practical way to decrease the electrical
conductivity is by increasing the amount of blow-down discharge and
subsequently increasing the amount of clean make-up water.

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 12

 Material Balance
Using these flow rates an concentration
dimensional units:
• M = Make-up water in m³/h
• C = Circulating water in m³/h
• D = Draw-off water in m³/h
• E = Evaporated water in m³/h
• W = Windage loss of water in m³/h
• X = Concentration in ppmw (of any completely soluble salts … usually chlorides)
• XM = Concentration of chlorides in make-up water (M), in ppmw
• XC = Concentration of chlorides in circulating water (C), in ppmw
• Cycles = Cycles of concentration = XC / XM (dimensionless)
• ppmw = parts per million by weight

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 13

• A water balance around the entire system is
then
M=E+D+W
Since the evaporated water (E) has no salts,
chloride balance around the system is

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 14

 TYPES OF COOLING TOWER
• Cooling tower are subdivided into two major
types:
– Natural draft cooling tower
– Mechanical draft cooling tower

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 15

 TYPES OF COOLING TOWER
Natural Draft Cooling Towers
• 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
• Hot air moves upwards through
the tower (lighter than air outside)
• Fresh cool air is drawn into the
tower from bottom

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 16

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 17
 Natural Draft Cooling Towers

• No fan required
• Concrete tower (500 ft high
and 400 ft in diameter at the
base)
• Used for water flow rates
above 200,000
gal/min(757082.357 liter/min).
• Used for large heat duties
(utility power stations)

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 18

 TYPES OF COOLING TOWER
Natural Draft Cooling Towers
• Commonly used in
➢Southwestern United states (Humidity is found to be very low)
➢Middle east (Humidity is found to be very low)
➢Europe (Temperature are generally very low)

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 19

 Natural Draft Cooling Towers

• There are two main types of natural draft

towers:
– Cross flow tower (left figure): air is drawn across
the falling water and the fill is located outside the
tower
– Counter flow tower (right figure): air is drawn up
through the falling water and the fill is therefore
located inside the tower, although design depends
on specific site conditions

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 20

• Air drawn across • Air drawn up
Typesof Cooling Towers through falling
falling water
• Fill located water
outside tower • Fill located
Natural Draft Cooling Towers
inside tower

Cross flow Counter flow

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 21
 Natural Draft Cooling Towers
523 foot (160 m)

4/19/2020 22
Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, New Hill , North carillona
 Types of Cooling Towers
Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

• Large fans to force air through circulated water

• Water falls downwards over fill surfaces and increase contact
time between air and water: maximum heat transfer.
• Cooling rates depend on many parameters: fan diameter, speed of
operation, fills for system.
• Available in a large range of capacities.
• Can be grouped to achieve desired capacity, e.g. 8-cell tower

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 23

 Types of Cooling Towers

Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

Three types
• Forced draft
• Induced draft cross flow
• Induced draft counter flow

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 24

 Types of Cooling Towers

Forced Draft Cooling Towers

• Air blown through tower by
centrifugal fan at air inlet
• Advantages: suited for high air
resistance & fans are relatively
quiet
• Disadvantages: recirculation
due to high air-entry and low
air-exit velocities

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 25

 Forced Draft Cooling Towers

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 26

 Forced Draft Cooling Towers

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 27

 Forced Draft
Cooling Towers

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 28

 Types of Cooling Towers
Induced Draft Cooling Towers

• Two types
• Cross flow
• Counter flow
• Advantage: less recirculation than
forced draft towers
• Disadvantage: fans and motor drive
mechanism require weather-
proofing
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 29
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 30
4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 31
 Types of Cooling Towers
Induced Draft Counter Flow CT
• Hot water enters at the top
• Air enters at bottom and exits at top
• Uses forced and induced draft fans

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 32

 Types of Cooling Towers
Induced Draft Cross Flow CT
• Water enters top and passes over fill
• Air enters on one side or opposite sides
• Induced draft fan draws air across fill at top of tower

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 33

 Assessment of Cooling Towers

• Performance Parameters
• Range
• Approach
• Effectiveness
• Cooling capacity
• Evaporation loss
• Cycles of concentration
• Blow down losses
• Liquid / Gas ratio
 Assessment of Cooling Towers

• 1. Range Hot Water Temperature (In)

• Difference between cooling

water inlet and outlet

Range
temperature: (In) to the Tower
(Out) from the
Tower

• Range (°C) = CW inlet temp –

CW outlet temp Cold Water Temperature (Out)
Approach

Wet Bulb Temperature (Ambient)

• High range = good
performance
 Assessment of Cooling Towers
• Approach Hot Water Temperature (In)

• Difference between cooling

tower outlet cold water
temperature and ambient wet

Range
(In) to the Tower
bulb temperature: (Out) from the
Tower
• Approach (°C) =
• CW outlet temp – Wet bulb
Cold Water Temperature (Out)
temp
Approach
• Low approach = good
performance Wet Bulb Temperature (Ambient)
 Assessment of Cooling Towers

• Effectiveness Hot Water Temperature (In)

• Effectiveness in %

• = Range / (Range + Approach)

Range
(In) to the Tower
(Out) from the
Tower
• = 100 x (CW temp – CW out
temp) / (CW in temp – Wet
bulb temp) Cold Water Temperature (Out)
Approach
• High effectiveness = good
performance Wet Bulb Temperature (Ambient)
 Assessment of Cooling Towers

• Cooling Capacity Hot Water Temperature (In)

• Heat rejected in kCal/hr or

tons of refrigeration (TR)

Range
(In) to the Tower
• = mass flow rate of water X (Out) from the
Tower
specific heat X temperature
difference
Cold Water Temperature (Out)
• High cooling capacity = good Approach
performance
Wet Bulb Temperature (Ambient)
 Assessment of Cooling Towers
• Evaporation Loss
Hot Water Temperature (In)
• Water quantity (m3/hr)
evaporated for cooling duty

• theoretically, 1.8 m3 for every

Range
(In) to the Tower
10,000,000 kCal heat rejected (Out) from the
Tower
• = 0.00085 x 1.8 x circulation
rate (m3/hr) x (T1-T2)
• T1-T2 = Temp. difference Cold Water Temperature (Out)
Approach
between inlet and outlet
water Wet Bulb Temperature (Ambient)
 Assessment of Cooling Towers

• Cycles of concentration (C.O.C.)

Ratio of dissolved solids in circulating water to the dissolved
solids in make up water

• Blow Down
Depend on cycles of concentration and the evaporation losses
Blow Down = Evaporation Loss / (C.O.C. – 1)
 Assessment of Cooling Towers
• Liquid Gas (L/G) Ratio
• Ratio between water and air mass flow rates

• Heat removed from the water must be equal to the heat absorbed
by the surrounding air

• L(T1 – T2) = G(h2 – h1)

• L/G = (h2 – h1) / (T2 – T1)
• T1 = hot water temp (oC)
• T2 = cold water temp (oC)
•Thank you….

4/19/2020 Nirav J. Bhavsar 42