Cooling tower

Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. 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 or, in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature. Common applications include cooling the circulating water used in oil refineries,petrochemical and other chemical plants, thermal power stations and HVACsystems for cooling buildings. Cooling towers vary in size from small roof-top units to very large hyperboloid structures (as in the adjacent image) that can be up to 200 metres tall and 100 metres in diameter, or rectangular structures (as in Image 3) that can be over 40 metres tall and 80 metres long. The hyperboloid cooling towers are often associated with nuclear power plants, although they are also used to some extent in some large chemical and other industrial plants. Although these large towers are very prominent, the vast majority of cooling towers are much smaller, including many units installed on or near buildings to discharge heat from air conditioning

Air flow generation methods

Access stairs at the base of a massive hyperboloid cooling tower give a sense of its scale (UK)

With respect to drawing air through the tower, there are three types of cooling towers:

Natural draft Utilizes buoyancy via a tall chimney. Warm, moist air naturally rises due to the density differential compared to the dry, cooler outside air. Warm moist air is less dense than drier air at the same pressure. This moist air buoyancy produces an upwards current of air through the tower.

Mechanical draft Uses power-driven fan motors to force or draw air through the tower.

Induced draft A mechanical draft tower with a fan at the discharge (at the top) which pulls air up through the tower. The fan induces hot moist air out the discharge. This produces low entering and high exiting air velocities, reducing the possibility ofrecirculation in which discharged air flows back into the air intake. This fan/fin arrangement is also known as draw-through. (see Image 3)

Forced draft A mechanical draft tower with a blower type fan at the intake. The fan forces air into the tower, creating high entering and low exiting air velocities. The low exiting velocity is much more susceptible to recirculation. With the fan on the air intake, the fan is more susceptible to complications due to freezing conditions. Another disadvantage is that a forced draft design typically requires more motor horsepower than an equivalent induced draft design. The benefit of the forced draft design is its ability to work with high static pressure. Such setups can be installed in more-confined spaces and even in some indoor situations. This fan/fill geometry is also known as blow-through. (see Image 4)

Fan assisted natural draft A hybrid type that appears like a natural draft setup, though airflow is assisted by a fan.

Hyperboloid (sometimes incorrectly known as hyperbolic) cooling towers (Image 1) have become the design standard for all naturaldraft cooling towers because of their structural strength and minimum usage of material. The hyperboloid shape also aids in accelerating the upward convective air flow, improving cooling efficiency. These designs are popularly associated with nuclear power plants. However, this association is misleading, as the same kind of cooling towers are often used at large coal-fired power plants as well. Conversely, not all nuclear power plants have cooling towers, and some instead cool their heat exchangers with lake, river or ocean water. [edit] Categorization by air-to-water flow [edit]Crossflow

Mechanical draft crossflow cooling tower used in an HVAC application

Crossflow is a design in which the air flow is directed perpendicular to the water flow (see diagram below). Air flow enters one or more vertical faces of the cooling tower to meet the fill material. Water flows (perpendicular to the air) through the fill by gravity. The

air continues through the fill and thus past the water flow into an open plenum volume. Lastly, a fan forces the air out into the atmosphere. A distribution or hot water basin consisting of a deep pan with holes or nozzles in its bottom is located near the top of a crossflow tower. Gravity distributes the water through the nozzles uniformly across the fill material. Advantages of the crossflow design:

Gravity water distribution allows smaller pumps and maintenance while in use. Non-pressurized spray simplifies variable flow. Typically lower initial and long-term cost, mostly due to pump requirements.

Disadvantages of the crossflow design:

More prone to freezing than counterflow designs. Variable flow is useless in some conditions.

[edit]Counterflow

Forced draft counter flow package type cooling towers

In a counterflow design, the air flow is directly opposite to the water flow (see diagram below). Air flow first enters an open area beneath the fill media, and is then drawn up vertically. The water is sprayed through pressurized nozzles near the top of the tower, and then flows downward through the fill, opposite to the air flow. Advantages of the counterflow design:

Spray water distribution makes the tower more freeze-resistant. Breakup of water in spray makes heat transfer more efficient.

Disadvantages of the counterflow design:

Typically higher initial and long-term cost, primarily due to pump requirements. Difficult to use variable water flow, as spray characteristics may be negatively affected.

Common aspects of both designs:

The interactions of the air and water flow allow a partial equalization of temperature, and evaporation of water. The air, now saturated with water vapor, is discharged from the top of the cooling tower.

A collection or cold water basin is used to collect and contain the cooled water after its interaction with the air flow.

Both crossflow and counterflow designs can be used in natural draft and in mechanical draft cooling towers. [edit] Water treatment Besides treating the circulating cooling water in large industrial cooling tower systems to minimize scaling and fouling, the water should be filtered and also be dosed with biocides and algaecides to prevent growths that could interfere with the continuous flow of the water.[12] Under certain conditions, a biofilm of micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae can grow very rapidly in the cooling water and can reduce the heat transfer efficiency of the cooling water. Biofilm can be reduced or prevented by using chlorine or other chemicals. Other technologies to control algae and biofilm include:[14][15]

Pulsed Technology: applies high frequency electrical pulses to break open biosolid cell membranes. Ultrasonic algae and biofilm control: controls algae by emitting ultrasonic frequencies which can rupture different cell organelles such as the vacuoles tonoplast, cell wall or membrane and the gas vesicles of blue -green algae. Specific ultrasonic vibrations around a submerged surface can inhibit bacteria from settling and thus forming a biofilm.

Chlorine Dioxide Generation Systems:[16] Chlorine dioxide is effective in the control of microbiological growths in industrial cooling waters under conditions unfavorable to chlorine. It is particularly effective in systems having a high pH, ammonianitrogen contamination, persistent slime problems, or where the microbial contamination is aggravated by contamination with vegetable or mineral oils, phenols or other high chlorine-demand producing compounds.

For closed loop evaporative towers, corrosion inhibitors may be used, but caution should be taken to meet local environmental regulations as some inhibitors use chromates. Classification by build [edit]Package type This type of cooling towers are factory preassembled, and can be simply transported on trucks as they are compact machines. The capacity of package type towers is limited and for that reason, they are usually preferred by facilities with low heat rejection requirements such as food processing plants, textile plants, some chemical processing plants, or buildings like hospitals, hotels, malls, automotive factories etc. Due to their frequent use in or near residential areas, sound level control is a relatively more important issue for package type cooling towers. [edit]Field erected type Facilities such as power plants, steel processing plants, petroleum refineries, or petrochemical plants usually install field erected type cooling towers due to their greater capacity for heat rejection. Field erected towers are usually much larger in size compared to the package type cooling towers. A typical field erected cooling tower has a pultruded fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) structure, FRP cladding[disambiguation needed], a mechanical unit for air draft, drift eliminator, and fill.