TITLE:

T9.1: END STATE PROPERTIES OF AIR AND STEADY FLOW EQUATIONS

THEORY:

Basic Principle
First consider an air stream passing over the surface of a warm water droplet or film.
If we assume that the water is hotter than the air, then the water temperature will be
cooled down by radiation, conduction and convection, and evaporation. The radiation
effect is normally very small and may be neglected. Conduction and convection
depend on the temperature difference, the surface area, air velocity, etc. The effect of
evaporation is the most significant where cooling takes place as water molecules
diffuse from the surface into the surrounding air. During the evaporation process, the
water molecules are replaced by others in the liquid from which the required energy is
taken.
Evaporation from a Wet Surface
When considering evaporation from a wet surface into the surrounding air, the rate is
determined by the difference between the vapour pressure at the liquid surface and the
vapour pressure in the surrounding air. The vapour pressure at the liquid surface is
basically the saturation pressure corresponding with the surface temperature, whereas
the total pressure of the air and its absolute humidity determines the vapour pressure
in the surrounding air. Such evaporation process in an enclosed space shall continue
until the two vapour pressures are equal. In other words, until the air is saturated and
its temperature equals the surface.
However, if unsaturated air is constantly supplied, the wet surface will reach an
equilibrium temperature at which the cooling effect due to the evaporation equals the
heat transfer to the liquid by conduction and convection from the air, which under
these conditions; will be at a higher temperature. Under adiabatic conditions, this
equilibrium temperature is the "wet bulb temperature". For a cooling tower of infinite
size and with an adequate air flow, the water leaving will be at the wet bulb
temperature of the incoming air. Therefore, the difference between the temperature of
the water leaving a cooling tower and the local wet bulb temperature is an indication
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of the effectiveness of the cooling tower. Thus, "Approach to Wet Bulb", an important
parameter of cooling towers, is the difference between the temperature of the water
leaving the tower and the wet bulb temperature of the entering air.

Cooling Tower Performance

A study on the performance of a cooling tower can be done with the help of a bench
top unit. Students shall be able to verify the effect of these factors on the cooling
tower performance:
(i) Water flow rates
(ii) Water temperatures
(iii) Airflow rate
(iv) Inlet Air Relative Humidity

The effect of these factors will be studied in depth by varying it. In this way, students
will gain an overall view of the operation of cooling tower.
Thermodynamic Property
In order to understand the working principle and performance of a cooling tower, a
basic knowledge of thermodynamic is essential to all students. A brief review on
some of the thermodynamic properties is presented below.
At the triple point (i.e. 0.00602 atm and 0.01C), the specific enthalpy of saturated
water is assumed to be zero, which is taken as datum. The specific enthalpy of
saturated water (hf) at a range of temperatures above the datum condition can be
obtained from thermodynamic tables.

OBJECTIVES:
1. To determine the end state properties of air and water from tables or charts
2. To determine Energy and mass balances using the steady flow equation on the
selected systems

APPARATUS:
Bench Top Cooling Apparatus

1.
2.
3.
4.

Orifice
Water Distributor
Packed Column
Flowmeter

6.
7.
8.
9.

Air Blower
Differential Pressure Transmitter
Make-up Tank
Control Panel
3

5.

Receiver tank

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.

Load tank

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS / SHUT-DOWN PROCEDURES:

1. Switch off heaters and let the water to circulate through the cooling tower
system for 3-5 minutes until the water cooled down.
2. Switch of the fan and fully close the fan damper.
3. Switch off the pump and power supply.
4. Retain the water in reservoir tank for the following experiment.
5. Completely drain off the water from the unit if it is not in used.

PROCEDURES:
1. The system is set under the following conditions and stabilizing is allowed for
about 15 minutes.
Water flow rate :

1.2 LPM

Air Flow :

Maximum

Cooling load :

1.0 kW

2. The make-up tank is filled up with distilled water up, the initial water level is
recorded and then the stop watch is started.
3. The make-up water supply is determined in an interval of 10 minutes.
4. In this 10 minutes interval, a few sets of the measurements were recorded (i.e.
temperatures (T1T7), orifice differential pressure (DP1), water flow rate
(FT1) and Heater Power (Q1)), then the mean value for calculation and
analysis are obtained.
5. The quantity of make up water that has been supplied during the time
interval is determined by noting the height reduction in the make-up tank.
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6. The observation may be repeated at different conditions, i.e. at different water

flow rates, or different air flow rates and with different load.
RESULTS:
Initial water level :

10.0 cm

Final water level :

9.4 cm

Time interval :

10 minutes

m-1
o
C
o
C
o
C
o
C
o
C
o
C
o
C
Pa
LPM
Watt

Packing Density
Air Inlet Dry Bulb, T1
Air Inlet Wet Bulb, T2
Air Outlet Dry Bulb, T3
Air Outlet Wet Bulb, T4
Water Inlet Temperature, T5
Water Outlet Temperature, T6
Water Make-up Temperature, T7
Orifice Differential, DP1
Water Flow Rate, FT1
Heater Power, Q1

1) Make-up Rate, make-up

5

110
25.0
24.9
25.9
25.3
36.3
24.6
26.5
124
1.2
969

w, T5 + aT1 = w, T6 + aT4

(1)

make-up = w, T5 - w, T6
= 0.0137

(2)

x (1+)
va
b

x = 124 Pa = 12.64 mm H2O

= 0. (at Twet bulb = T4 at 100% relative humidity)
= 0.0137

12.64 (1+ 0.0106)

0.876

= 0.0523 kg/s
w, T5 = 0.0523 kg/s
a = 0.0137
a = 0.0137

x
v a (1+)
b

12.64
0.876 (1+ 0.0106)

a = 0.0518 kg/s
Hence,
aT1 = 0.0518 kg/s (0.0202)
= 0.00105 kg/s
aT4 = 0.0518 kg/s (0.0106)
= 0.00055 kg/s
The values obtained are then substituted into equation (1)
w, T5 + aT1 = w, T6 + aT4
0.0523 kg/s + 0.00105 kg/s = w, T6 + 0.00055 kg/s
w, T6 = 0.0528 kg/s

make-up = w, T5 - w, T6
make-up = 0.0523 kg/s 0.0528 kg/s
make-up = - 0.0005 kg/s

2) Energy and Mass Balance by using the steady flow equation.

w, T5 hT5 + ahT1 = w, T6 hT6 + ahT4
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First, we calculate the left hand side (LHS) of the equation

0.0523 kg/s (152.07kJ/kg) + 0.0518 kg/s (104.83 kJ/kg)
= 13.383 kJ/s
Then, we calculate the right hand side (RHS) of the equation
0.0528 kg/s (103.1568kJ/kg) + 0.0518 kg/s (106.0846 kJ/kg)
= 10.9419 kJ/s
By comparing RHS and LHS, the values are not equal.

DISCUSSIONS
1) Mohammad Iskandar Zulkarnain b. Roslan (42188)
From the calculation, the make-up rate value, make-up is -0.0005 kg/s.
The negative value indicates errors were done during the experiment.
The errors that might influence the calculation includes:
i)
the accuracy of time interval of the experiment.
ii)
the presence of impurities in the water used for the
experiment.

Impurities

in

water

can

alter

the

temperature reading at the end of the experiment.

Also, the calculation for mass and energy balance on the left hand side
(LHS) and right hand side (RHS) are not equal. This is also influenced
by the errors stated earlier. By that, to get the closest experimental
value as the theoretical value, the errors should be minimised, the
cooling tower should be efficient in terms of performance (example:
no leaking occurs).
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2) Hillary Assan anak Liam (41424)

Based on the energy and mass balance of the steady flow equation, we
want to compare the left hand side (LHS) and right hand side (RHS) of
the equation whether both are the same or otherwise. However, based
on our calculation, it shows that the value of LHS is not equal to RHS.
The value at LHS is 13.383 kJ/s, whereas the value at RHS is 10.9419
kJ/s. For example, if we want the value of RHS equals that of LHS, the
value of w, T6 should be 0.0765 kg/s, instead of 0.0528 kg/s.

3) Dennis Yii anak Keding (44904)

Based on the calculation, the value of mass flow rate for inlet is not
equal to its outlet. This shows there are errors or mistakes are done
during the experiment. The theoretical inlet mass flow rate should be
equal to the outlet mass flow rate, based on the mass conservation
principle. The error done during the experiment is caused by leakage
of some water from the cooling tower, which explains the unbalanced
value of mass flow rate for both sides.
4) Terence Empurai anak Andap (44422)
The calculation shows that the value of make-up rate is a negative
value, which is -0.0005 kg/s. The reason for this presence of negative
value is the leakage of cooling tower during the experiment. In order
to reduce the error, the water tower should undergoes maintenance for
better performance. Furthermore, the systematic error might be done
during the experiment when taking the water level reading. To reduce
the error, it is always a good practice to take the reading parallel to the
scale reading and take multiple readings and obtain the average value.
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5) Phillip Mapang anak Angking (43732)

From this experiment, we can determine the value of make-up rate and
mass and energy balance for cooling tower. The calculations show that
the experimental value is off from the theoretical value. The theoretical
value of make-up rate should be a positive value, due to the water
content is used to make-up for the loss of water content due to
evaporation. Also, the value of mass and energy balance should be
equal at both sides of the equation, according to principle of
conservation of mass. These experimental values are obtained due to
errors conducted such as parallax error and the leaking of cooling
tower.

CONCLUSION
From this experiment, the value of make-up rate is determined to be -0.0005
kg/s and the mass of water is not conserved due to some loss of water content from
the cooling tower.

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REFERENCES
1) Cengel, Y.A., Boles, M. A. (2011). Thermodynamics: An Engineering
Approach (Seventh Edition in SI Units). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
2) Himmelblau, David M. (1967). Basic Principles and Calculations in
Chemical Engineering (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower
4) http://chem.engr.utc.edu/webres/435F/3T-CT/3T-CT.html

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