1.

Introduction

A cooling tower is used to remove undesired heat from a cooling fluid, used in industrial
processes, to lower its temperature and reuse it. This became a necessity following the
years of its introduction in the 19 th century. The idea of inventing cooling towers was to
dissipate waste heat from industrial processes when natural cooling source was not
available (Kumar et al, 2008). The demand for cooling towers became even more
important since due to global warming, water stresses are being felt in industries and
availability of cooling source decreased. Cooling towers are a way of recycling since they
enable us to use the same water several times once its temperature is lowered each time.
As a sequel of advancement in technology and in the field of power generation, modern
cooling towers are being constructed which are eco friendly and thus help in reducing the
cooling tower water blowdown with minimal impact on the environment (Kumar et al,
2008).
The bench top cooling tower, an example of a forced draught cooling tower, is used to
study the principles of a cooling tower. It follows the First Law of Thermodynamics
which states that the energy entering the system must leave the system: the energy enters
the cooling tower as hot water, it is cooled by means of the cold air and it exits the system
as cold water (Lewis et al, 2016). A countercurrent heat transfer occurs between the two
flow of fluids that the air and the water where the air is at low temperature and the water
is the heated fluid that has been used in industrial process.
The warm water is fed at the top of the tower and passes through packings via troughs
which distribute the water uniformly. The packings make the area available for heat
transfer larger thus increasing efficiency. At the same time, air is drawn upwards through
the packing arrangement using a fan. Cool water falls from the packing arrangement into
a basin and is fed back to the industrial process where cooling is required. There is also a
little loss of water due to entrainment.

1.1

Aims & Objectives

The main aim of the practical is to observe the processes within a forced draught cooling
tower.
The objectives of the practical are:

To compare the temperatures at different points of the Bench Top Cooling Tower
apparatus after varying intervals of time

To perform an energy balance on the system

To study the variation of enthalpy over time