COOLING TOWER PERFORMANCE Introduction Most processes in chemical industry involve a transfer of thermal energy from a source, through the process and finally to a heat sink, Whether it is a separation process such as distillation or crystallization, or a process to convert heat into mechanical or electrical energy, or a chemical reaction with a negative enthalpy change, there must always be a ‘good medium for carrying away the waste heat, Cold water is usually preferred. Since very few chemical plants have access to a cheap and unlimited supply of cold water, itis an economic necessity to recycle the water. There must therefore be a way to remove the heat acquired by water that has passed through the process, and return the Water at a temperature where it is once again useful for cooling. The ultimate heat sink available to us is the atmospheric air. But air is seldom used directly for cooling in a chemical process. One reason water is preferred is that it has a higher heat capacity and gives higher heat transfer coefficients, enabling the use of smaller, more efficient, heat exchangers. Another reason is that water is a dense liquid and is much easier to move through the building to the place it is needed. Still another reason is that water cooled by ait will reach a lower temperature than the ambicnt air. ‘This improves the performance of the heat exchanger because of the greater temperature difference between the coolant and the process stream, ‘The cooling tower is a device that cools warm water so it can be recycled to the process and used as a coolant once again, There ate many designs. The tower may be natural raft (air flow is produced by the density differential that exists between the heated (less dense) air inside the stack and the relatively cool (more dense) ambient air outside the tower), forced draft (a fan is used to provide flow of a known volume of air through the tower. The fan is located in the ambient air stream entering the towei) or induced draft (the fan is located in the exiting air stream which draws air through the tower, reading materials-page 8), and it may have many variations in its internal mechanism for bringing the water into intimate contact with air. Whatever the design, the water is cooled both by evaporation and by transfer of sensible heat. Air passing through the tower usually increases somewhat in temperature, and always picks up a great deal of moisture. Thus, the enthalpy of the air increases and the enthalpy of the water decreases. Cooling towers are widely used in chemical process industries, but they are used in other places as well. A very common application is in air-conditioning systems in large buildings. A heat pump, identical in principle to the beat pump used in a household reftigerator or window air-conditioner, is used to chill water or brine which is circulated to air-cooling units in various locations throughout the building. The heat rejected by the heat pump is transferred to a “condenser water" circulating system which in turn transfers heat to the ambient air in a cooling tower as shown in Figure 124,We have a refrigeration system, by Marley, is located in Bryan Hall and serves only that building. It is rated at 400 tons of refrigeration. ‘The condenser water pump and chiller are in the basement, and a single unit tower is on the roof. Reference is made to cooling towers in McCabe (1993). A discussion of cooling towers and their performance from a practical point of view can be found in Hensley (1982). A detailed analysis of the theory behind the design.and operation of cooling towers is found in Baker & Shryock (1961). Bennett & Myers (1982) and Norman (1961) present much the same information, but in less detail. The following figures illustrate schematically the ‘common types of the cooling tower and water circulation in typical air conditioning system.Water, Figure 10-~ Siagleton tonne eure 16 = Spraptinea,coontetow cooing tome‘Operation at Full Loag Memperatures typical) 118000 Btutcfton Figure 124 — Schematic of water circuitry in typical alr conditioning system.Background Although the cooling tower on Bryan Hall is ctossflow type, we may assume it simply as countercurrent flow. * Cooling-Tower Theory and the counterflow cooling diagram. ‘The most generally accepted theory of the cooling-tower heat-transfer process is that developed by Merkel. This analysis is based upon enthalpy potential difference as the driving force. Each particle of water is assumed to be surrounded by a film of air, and the enthalpy difference between the film and the surrounding air provides the driving force for the cooling process. In the integrated form the Merkel equation is (where C,, is equal to Btu 1 jpop for wate LAT = KadV(h' —h) = Gdh wo (2) 8) where K = mass transfer coefficient, 1d,.,.,/(hr.f); (lb dry air/th water); a= contact area per tower volume, ft'/ft?; V = active cooling volume, fF ](fP of plan are: = water flow rate, lif (hr. ff); h’ = enthalpy of saturated air at water temperature, Biu/lb dry air; = enthalpy of air stream, Buu/lb dry ait; G= air flow rate, lb dry ait/(hr. f??). The integrated value corresponding to a given set of conditions is called the Number of Transfer Units (NTU) as will be discussed later. It is entirely in terms of air and water properties and is independent of tower dimensions. ‘The integrated value or KaV/L is known as the towet characteristic. ‘The counterflow cooling diagram is represented graphically in Figure 12-12. An understanding of this diagram is important in visualizing the cooling-tower process. ‘Water entering the top of the tower at Tyayeeja, a» iS surrounded by an interfacial film that is assumed to be saturated with water vapor at the bulk water temperature. ‘This corresponds to point A on the saturation curve/water operating line. As the water is Cooled 1 Tyreyasa, > the film enthalpy follows the saturation/water operating curve to point B,‘The air operating line begins at C, vertically below B and at a point having an enthalpy corresponding to that of the entering wet-bulb temperature. The driving force (h’ ~ ) at the base of the cooling tower is represented by the vertical line BC. Heat removed from water is added to the air so its enthalpy increases along the straight line CD, having a slope equaling the L/G ratio and terminating at a point (D) vertically below point A. In cooling water 1'F, the enthalpy per pound of air is increased at | Btu multiplied by the ratio of pounds of water per pound of air. b (aic out) ni (Cold-woter temperature) > h (air ia) = temperature temperatur Hot-woter Wet-bulb FG. 12-12 Cooling-tower process heat balance. (Marley Co.) _ T‘The liquid-gas ratio L/G is the slope of the air operating line (CD), which is a ratio of the total mass flows of water and dry air in a cooling tower. + The coordinates of Fig, 12-12 refer directly to the temperature and enthalpy of any Point on the water operating line but refer directly only to the enthalpy of a point on the air operating line. This is because the corresponding wet-bulb femperature and enthalpy of any point on CD is found by projecting the point horizontally to the saturation curve, then vertically to the temperature coordinate. - Us. Ib of water circulated / hr. LIG Tb dey air / hr. fi? If LIG increases, air operating line approaches the water operating line. The maximum L/G and minimum air flow occur when the average wet-bulb temperature of the outgoing air equals to the inlet water temperature. Hence (16)... is the slope of the line that connects point C with A in Figure 12-12. - Driving forces inlet driving force = (Hl = Be outlet driving force = AD = (Hh) Driving force at any point along the tower is equal to the vertical difference between the water operating line and air operating line. - Tower characteristics Kav _ Ti aT (C, =1) L 2 Wh = NTU (as will be discussed later) which is related to the area ABCD in terms of the following numerical integration ‘This value is known as the tower characteristic, varying with the LG. For example, an increase in entering wet-bulb temperature moves the origin Cupward, and the line CD shifts to the right to maintain a constant KaV/L. A change in L/G ratio changes the slope of CD, and the tower comes to equilibrium with a new KaV/L (see the reading materials, Perry et al., 1984, page 12-13). * ‘Phe cooling range and the cooling-tower approach Cooling range: The difference between the hot water temperature (inlet) and the cold water temperature (outlet) as shown in Fig. 12-12 (Le. the difference between the temperature at A (and D) and that at B (and C), x-axis) and in the figure below. Hence, if the cooling range increases, line CD lengthens. Cooling tower approach: The difference between the cold water temperature (0utlet) and the entering air wet-bulb temperature (ie. the ambient wet bulb temperature) as shown in Fig. 12-12 and the one below. S5PF hot water Gilet) Range cold water TOP T courteo ‘Approach inlet air wet-bulb 65PE temperature *© Number of Transfer Unit (NTU) ‘A transfer unit represents the size or extent of the equipment that allows the transfer to come to equilibrium. The integrated value of the following equation corresponding to given set of conditions is called the Number of Transfer Unit (NTU). ww ae af a6) NTU can be evaluated by two methods: 1. NTU is related to the ABCD area and evaluated numerically using Trapizoidal or Simpson’s rule methods according to the above integration performed within ABCD area. This can be done as follows:+ Interpolate or extract from Fig. 12-12 values of h’—A vs. T (ie. (enthalpy of water - enthalpy of air) vs. the temperature) within the area represented by ABCD (Fig, 12-12). 1 = Calculate vs.T Woh ~ Evaluate numerically using Trapizoidal or Simpson’s rule the area under the curve of vs. T bounded by T,,, .. and T, ‘The result is equal to the integration above and to the NTU of the cooling tower. 2. Assuming adiabatic humidification (McCabe ct al., 1993). (This is not the case in the current experiment and in most cooling towers). Based on mass transfer: where H is the humidity. Based on heat transfer: ov = on psychrometric chart note the following:* Heat Load Itis the total heat to be removed from the circulating water by the cooling tower per unit time, Hence, heat load = heat lost to the atmosphere This can be done as follows: a. Based on the difference in water temperature between the inlet and the outlet water stream, heat load = Marat CP (Trssertx’ ~ Taaserout) b. Based on the heat lost to the ambient (i.e. heat gained by the air) heat load = [Mirae CP, AT, = Mgriy CP AT;] + Meaerton Ave where, AT, = Toyoe ~ To aT, = Tam ~ Tr, A is the latent heat which is found from Perry et al. (1984) (see the reading materials attached) for the inlet and the outlet conditions; 4, is the average latent heat, * Byaluate the water circulating flow rate based on the current (1) and voltage (E) measurements. ‘This method is used since there is no flowmeter on the circulated water line. ‘As shown in Figure 4 (Lab Manual - Horsepower input to the pump from the motor vs. pumping rate, gpm), the water circulating flow rate can be estimated by calculating the power input to the pump (assuming 100% efficiency) from the motor as follows power input = Iyreus® Equa PF x /n0. of phases (=3) where J, lana i8 the measured current, E, the measured voltage, PF is the power factor. PF can be obtained from Table 2 which is based on 230V. Therefore J..,,.. at Een BECA 10 be Converted 10 the Iap,q at 230V as Feorrect Jmeasured * Exated 10where E,,,, = 230 volt (Table 2, lab manual). Hence I... is used to obtain PF from ‘Table 2.” It is noteworthy that the pump has a cettain elficiency (n) which can be obtained from Table 2 as well based on /,,,.- The pump efficiency (7) ower output from the pump onto the liquid power input from the motor to the pump hence, the correct power used to estimate the circulating flow rates using Figure 4 (lab manual) is the power output from the pump to the liquid as: power output = 11x power input ‘Thus, using the calculated power output, circulating flow rate can be estimated (for ‘more information, see the reading materials of the pump characteristics experiment), * ‘The rate of the water léss and the make-up ~ Water loss is the rate of the water lost by evaporation, drift, windage, blow down, Teakage, ete [ Humidity out corrected to the] ‘The rate of the water loss (lb/hr) = | operating pressure — Humidity | m,, Lin corrected to the operating pressure - Make-up is the rate of the water added to the circulating water system to replace the water lost as mentioned above. Hence rate of the make-up = rate of the water lost Note: 1. The enthalpy of the stream should be determined based on a reference temperature equal to that used for Table 12-1 (Perry et al., 1984) (see the reading materials attached, and see the bottom note of Table 12-1). 2, Bach enthalpy must be corrected for the operating pressure by using Table 12-2 attached, Equipment Description and Measurement Procedure: ‘The Physical Plant An isometric drawing of the condenser water system for the system in the power house is shown in the Washington University Office of Physical Facilities drawing number i81-001, project number 79-187 (included here as Figure 1). The cooling towers are shown in Figure 2. The cooling tower arrangement in Bryan Halll is very similar, except that there is only a single unit cooling tower, and there is only one pump circulating the condenser water, at a time. ‘The chiller with its heat pump, the condenser water circulating pump, and the ancillary switch gear are in the basement of Bryan. Access is restricted. Students can only go there with the ‘T/A, who has a key. The present unit in Bryan replaces an older arrangement in which there were three towers, and three circulating pumps, which explains the apparent excess of equipment in the basement of Bryan. ‘The pumps are provided with diffusers on the suction side. These have no relevance to our study. Their function is to eliminate turbulence as the water enters the pump, thus preventing cavitation problems. Notice that there are temperature and pressure gauges on the pump lines, as well as temperature gauges on the discharge lines from the chillers. But there are no flow meters. The electrical connections to each pump motor are made through a control panel. Each motor has its own switch, called a "starter". Access to the individual lead wires for current measurement is available in the starter. Such measurements should be attempted only by a trained electrician, never by the student, For reasons of convenience and student safety, a voltmeter and ammeter are mounted on the control panel for the pump. Students will only need to read the meters, rather than having the equipment opened to take readings directly from the electric lines. It should ‘be noted, however, that in an industrial situation without such meters one would have to have access to the actual electrical circuits. The cooling tower is on the roof, Here (oo, access is restricted. Students can only go there with a T/A. The cooling tower on the roof is an induced draft type. That is, the fan is on the top of the tower. The fan is well guarded, so there is little danger of injury. However, one should be careful to walk only on the indicated areas, to avoid damage to the sheet metal on the top of the tower. We will not measure the power to the fans, although ‘would be done in the usual thermal performance test of a tower. At the top of the tower it is possible to measure the temperature of the water entering, and the temperature and humidity of the air leaving. There is so much turbulence in the exit air that it is not possible to obtain a meaningful velocity reading at this point. (This statement is easily verified with an anemometer.) Access to the top of the tower is by means of a vertical Iadder. Such a ladder is very ‘common on industrial equipment, and is quite safe, but care must be used. It is not possible to stand on a vertical ladder without holding on, since one's center of gravity cannot be brought directly above one's feet. Vertical ladders above a certain height are now required by OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S 12government) to have a man-cage around the ladder to reduce the danger. However, it is Still possibic to fall. Care must be used. Never try to carry something while using the ladder. Keep both hands free for holding on. Before you ascend, put the things you will need at the top in a bucket which can be pulled up with a rope after reaching the top. When you are ready to come down, replace the things in the bucket, let them down, and then descend the ladder. Measurement Equipment: Air humidities will be determined with a sling psychrometer (see the reading material attached), which is a device containing a wet-bulb and a dry-bulb thermometer which can be whirled through the air to achieve the necessary maximum cooling effect. Make sure the reservoir contains distilled water, that the wick covers the wet bulb, and there is no moisture on the dry bulb, Whirl the psychrometer through the air for about 15 seconds, then guickly check the temperatures. Read the wet bulb temperature first, then the dry bulb. Repeat until there is no change in the indicated temperatures for three consecutive readings. The psychrometer will not have to be whirled at the top of the tower because the velocity of the exit air is high enough to get a good reading. Air velocity is determined with an anemometer. Exit air at the top of the tower is too turbulent to obtain a meaningful reading. ‘The anemometer is placed in the inlet air stream so that the moving air blows squarely into the entrance face. The procedure for faking measurements varies with the anemometer used. Make sure you understand how the anemometer works before you use it. (the TA will show you how to use it properly.) ‘Velocity should be measured at the centers of nine equal areas, like an imaginary tic-tac- toe, over the inlet face and averaged. Velocities should be measured on both sides of the tower since wind may affect the flows. ‘There is no flowmeter in the water line. ‘There are, however, a voltmeter and ammeter in the power line to the pump motor, Performance curves for the motor and pump are furnished to enable finding the pumping rate. (See the reading material of the pump characteristics experiment), Operating Data: ‘The pump used for circulating the condenser water to the tower is a Bell & Gossett model UOB centrifugal, with a9 1/2 inch impeller. A performance curve for that pump is shown in Figure 3. The relationship between horsepower input and gpm output was calculated from the data, and is shown in Table 1 and Figure 4. An attempt was made to fit an empirical function to the data points, but linear interpolation seems to work as well or better, as shown in Fig ‘The motor driving the pump is a Lincoln Electric Co, three-phase, 230 volt, 25 horsepower motor. A performance curve for the motor is shown in Table 2, 1BAssignment For pre-Lab proposal, create flow diagram (P&ID - Process and Instrumentation Diagram) showing all the related components and. instruments, correctly labeled (c.g., valve types, pump types, etc.). DO NOT SIMPLY COPY THE ONES PROVIDED WHICH ARE USED IN THE MANUAL ONLY AS A GUIDELINE. ‘This experiment represents an assignment of the kind an engineer in industry might be expected to camry out. There is a piece of equipment in the plant: How well is it performing? The cooling tower on Bryan Hall is evaluated as follows: 1 Develop the cooling diagram for Bryan Halls’ cooling tower: to simplify the calculations, assume counter flow operation similar to that illustrated in Fig. 12-12 (such assumption represents one of the source of errors, since Bryan Hall cooling tower is not a counter flow one (crossflow pattern)). Determine the following: a, Define wet-bulb temperature (Twb) and adiabatic-saturation (Tad.Sat.) temperature. Show how Twb = Tad.Sat. (see the reading materials). Calculate L/G ratio and LIG max The corresponding wet-bulb temperature of the inlet air and the outlet air streams ‘The enthalpy of the inlet and the outlet water streams ‘The driving forces at the bottom and the top of the tower ‘The cooling range and the cooling-tower approach pos 2. Estimate NTU (tower characteristic) by the following ways: 3. - Using the cooling diagram developed in (1) above and solve eq. (2) numerically. ~ Assuming adiabatic humidification process .and evaluating NTU based on both mass transfer and heat transfer (it is noteworthy that the actual process of this experiment is not adiabatic, however such assumption is used to demonstrate the errors associated with such assumption), - Discuss the meaning and the significance of NTU for the tower performance. Compare between the value of NTU obtained from the developed cooling diagram and that calculated based on both mass and heat transfer (ic. adiabatic humidification assumption). Explain the differences if any. Which one is more reliable? Why? Estimate the water circulating flow rate in the Bryan Halls' cooling tower system. - Discuss the sources of the possible errors if any that associated with the estimation of the water circulating flow rate. Explain and identify the uncertainties. Mention why only one pump is operating. Would it help the performance of the tower if all three pumps. in the basement of Bryan Hall are in operation? Explain. 144. Determine the rate of the water loss or the make-up. What is the make-up percentage of the circulating water flow rate? - Is it better for the rate of the water loss or the make-up to be large or small?’ What does the value tell you and what action(s) need to be taken if the rate of the water loss and the make-up are large or small? Explain, 5. Evaluate the heat load expressed as tons of refrigeration, - Define the unit “tons of refrigeration”. ~ What is the importance of knowing the heat load? Should it be large or small to have a well operated tower? Explain. Note (J) Although the Bryan Halls' cooling tower operates crossflow, you may perform your calculation assuming countercurrent operation. Discuss how such assumption affects the results. (2) If the cooling tower is not running, data will be provided by the TA and more assignments may be assigned. Result and Data Analysis Outline Present the direct and the indirect results that represent the assignments in the form of equations, tables and figures. Meanwhile, provide interpretations of the results (.e. Provide a thorough discussion of the findings). ‘The results should be discussed in the light of uncertainties of measurements (i. identifying the sources of the experimental errors), statistical analysis of the experimental data, significance and meaning of any calculated numbers, trend of the data as a function of the parameters, etc. Data analysis may include, but not limited to, the following discussion outlin ~ Discuss the developed cooling diagram. Explain the effect, if any, of the assumptions made (such as counter current flow pattern) and the experimental errors associated with the parameters needed to develop such diagram. ~ Explain how does L/G ratio affect the performance of the tower. What is the meaning of this ratio, Should the tower be operated at high or low L/G? ~ Are the obtained water operation line and the air operation line straight lines or curves? Why? - Explain why the air operating line started at the temperature of the outlet water and ended at the temperature of the inlet water.~ Compare between the driving force at the bottom and the top of the cooling tower. What is the trend of the driving force between these two points. Discuss. = Why the saturation air line lies on the water operating line. Explain. ~ What is the meaning and importance of the tower characteristic for its performance. Better to be large or small? - What is the meaning and importance of the range and approach, Better to be large or small? References McCabe, W.L., Smith, J.C., and Harriott, P., "Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering", Sth ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. (1993). Ch. 23, "Humidification Operations", Hensley, .C., ed., "Cooling Tower Fundamentals", Kansas City, KS, The Marley Cooling Tower Co. (1982). Baker, D.R. and Shryock, H.A., "A Comprehensive Approach to the Analysis of Cooling Tower Performance", A'S.M.E. Technical Bulletin R-16-P-13, reprinted from J. Ht. Transf. (1961 August), Bennett, C.O. and Myers, "Momentum Heat Transfer", 3rd ed., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. (1982). Norman, W.S., "Absorption, Distillation and Cooling Towers", New York, John Wiley & Sons (1961), Chap. 9, "Simultaneous Heat and Mass Transfer". 16Table 1 Data from Bell & Gossett UGB Performance Curve. 9 V2 inch impeller at 1750 rpm % Bf. TDH Cale. HP input 30 843 13.1 40 84.0 15.1 50. 838 16.1 60, 823 178 75 81.0 192 70 TBS 20.5 75 733 22.2 B 615 22.8 8. 58.5 23.7 5 50.0 23.8 7Table 2 PERFORMANCE CURVE at 230 VOLTS Lincoln Electric Co., 25 HP Motor for Condenser Water Pump 18.Figure | Power Plant Chillers Isometric DERE OE PHYSICAL FAGIITIES | Spay Fever Bowsr viawr consort | or” Conoanret warae pin | Of OOF ment eee ae ee 19Figure 2 ‘Schematic Views Series 8800 NC Two-Cell Tower B MehFigure 3 Performance Curve Bell & Gossett Model USB Centrifugal Pump TIT cet_o Gossert NG. MORTON GROVE, NLLINOIS, U.S.A YEST PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTIC. CURVE -NO- PCGZGE > for UGB cantarweas rar ne, ea UNiVERSAL SHY baie sete 1750. MOCATES orekating rote omy. carscitY, meAe Ano. C4F nen nano Clean, “eeuae vical Twatca “ST A esses rat one S agengrto He ¥00 80| 60) 40) 20] ° 200 400) 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1600 GAPAGITY IN U.S. GALLONS PER MINUTE 2Figure 4 Bell & Gossett U6B Centrifugal, 9 1/2" Impeller Horsepower Input to the pump from the motor vs Pumping Rate, gpm. U.S. gallons per minute B.& G, U6B Centrifugal, 9 1/2" Impeller GPM vs Horsepower Input at 1750 rpm 1400- 1300+ I t200|—} b =F 1000- i 900: ae sor eae 400- 300: T 200- 100: 1 0+ 19° 14 «15 #16 17 «#18 «19 Oe eernes ed: Horsepower Input 22