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Water Makeup 5. Trash Screen and Gate 6. The Pump Basin 7. Suction Piping 8. Pump Priming 9. Bypass 10. Chemical Dosing 11. Cooling Tower Structure 12. Winterizing
1. General
Cooling water is an essential service in any chemical plant or refinery and control of temperature plays a critical part in any plant process. Therefore, any water used for cooling picks up heat from the medium being cooled, and must itself be cooled before being recirculated. The cooling tower enables this water cooling to be carried out. Regardless of type of tower selected there is always a reservoir of water at the base, from which water is drawn and pumped around the plant. It is returned via a header pipe, back to the top of the tower. The water is then dispersed over the whole area of the tower by means of wooden slats or sprinkler nozzles. This breaks the water up into fine droplets similar to rain, thus exposing a greater surface area and enabling cooling to be much more effective. The cooled water is collected in the basin under the tower and is ready for reuse.
3.2 Noise
Noise levels of larger cooling towers can be quite high and may become objectionable if the tower is located too close to continually occupied work areas such as offices and control buildings, etc.
4. Water Makeup
Water makeup to a cooling tower is necessary to replace the mechanical carryout of water droplets (windage), evaporation and the blowdown required to maintain a controlled solids buildup. Makeup water is usually added to the cooling tower basin. Control of water level in the cooling tower basin is via a level instrument of some description. This should be located in the relatively still waters of the pump basin. If the instrument is of the level displacer type it should be housed in a stillwell located in the pump basin. This protects the instrument and dampens the turbulent water to give a smoothed water level for measurement. Blowdown rate is dependent on the solids entering in the makeup water and the solids level to be maintained in the system. Blowdown is measured by a flow indicator at any point in the cooling water circulation system that may be convenient for its disposal to a sewer.
7. Suction Piping
High losses at the pump intake can cause excessive turbulence that may adversely affect the pumps performance. A bellmouth is the most effective way of reducing these losses and can simply be a concentric reducer, the large end being 1.5 x the diameter of the suction pipe diameter. Clearance between the face of the bellmouth and the pump basin floor should be equal to the larger diameter of the bellmouth. Another useful aid in reducing turbulence in the suction piping is to have at least 3 pipe diameters of straight pipe upstream of the pump suction flange. The submerged depth of the intake is not usually very critical, but a minimum of 1 m is good practice. For vertical immersed pumps, use the vendors recommendations. The suction line should rise positively to the pump flange to prevent air pockets. For double suction type pumps, bends in the horizontal should be greater than 3 pipe diameters upstream of the pump flange.
If the pump is mounted on its own plinth, a check should be made with the Civil Department for possibility of differential settlement of foundations. A flexible coupling may have to be installed in the suction piping.
8. Pump Priming
A pump cannot operate without being filled with liquid, therefore the minimum design liquid level in the pump basin should be above the casing of the pump. For pumps expected to startup automatically, this method is essential because there is no danger of the idle pump emptying itself. Vertical immersed pumps are also ideal for automatic standbys. Where a pump must be above the minimum water level, other means are available for the priming of the pump but these should only be used with care. These include vent ejectors operated by steam, air or water, a foot-valve and a priming feed to the casing from a reliable water source.
9. Bypass
Within large pumps of high throughput, prolonged operation at too low a flow overheat the pump and water within, and may cause damage to the pump. Therefore, these pumps should be fitted with an open ended bypass from the discharge line back into the pump basin, terminating below the minimum water level. A means should be provided to prevent high velocity streams from disturbing the flow to the pump suction intakes.
The cooling tower is usually a clad wooden structure constructed with a great number of light weight plastic components. This makes it susceptible to fire risks and a fire protection system should be considered. This lightness of construction means that nozzle forces should be at a minimum and the flexibility of piping layout is of great importance. Access should be adequate for the maintenance of the fan motors mounted on top of the structure and be sufficient to give access to any doors or hatches in the fan stacks and floor on top of the structures.
12. Winterizing
In cold climates steam injection is sometimes employed in the tower to prevent the pump basins from freezing. A steam header is run around the periphery of the tower basin, above the basin wall, and steam ejected via holes drilled into header, onto the water surface in the basin. Steam is also introduced into the pump basin via a sparger; this prevent the water freezing prior to being pumped into the cooling water system.
Figure 1.