Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Cooling Tower Basics

    Uploaded by

    KannanGK
    19 views6 pages
    Basics of Cooling Tower design

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Basics of Cooling Tower design

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    19 views6 pages

    Cooling Tower Basics

    Uploaded by

    KannanGK
    Basics of Cooling Tower design

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 6
    Cooling Tower Basics and Common Misconceptions Introduction In comparison with most other industrial euipments, the water colin tower ea imple device ‘sed on the dec contact of to ofthe earth's ost common substances: air and wate yet surprising sumer of misconceptions on ts design operation and behavior prevail Coolingbascr anc important misconceptions ape dncased hervn, wit the goal of helping achieve the most economical and beefical application, design, and operation ofthis important het traf device. Cooling Tower Fundamentals Had Tran: The baie pinepeof the eooling tower operation is that of evaporative condensation snd ‘xchange of senile het. The ir and water mitre eleaes att het of vaporization which ha ‘oolng effect on water by turing certain amount of liquid int is gaseous state thereby releasing the Inlet het of vaporization ‘This s more etetvely demonstrated by wetting the back of your hand with water and blowing ‘nit Tis eects what happens inside the cooling tower. Thea seam releases latent heat of ‘aporzation thereby dropping the temperatueof the water on your skin The quid changing tits ‘porous tte consumes het whic ie aken fm the water remaining, tus lvering ts tmperatre ‘Thee sa penalty involved and thats oss of water which goes up tothe cooling tower an is ischarged ino the stmogphere at hot mist vapor. Under normal operating condition his amounts to approximately 1.2% for each 10-F cooling ange. ‘Sensible heat that changes temperatures also responsible for part ofthe cooling tower's ‘operation. When water i warmer tha he ai, thee ina tendeney forthe srt cool the water The it ‘then ges hoter et ins he sensible heat ofthe water an the waters cools as ite sensible este traferzed to the at, “Approtimately 25% of the sensible heat transfer ocurs inthe ower while the balance of the 75% cooling id othe evaporative effec of alent heat of vaponzaton Dry Balb Temperature (DBT, Wet Bulb Temperstare WET and Relative Humidity (RH ‘The temperature of ar as read onthe ordinary thermometer iscalled DBT. WHT isthe reading when thebulb ofa thermometers covered witha wet clot and the struments whirled around i asling Eis the ratio the quantity of waler vapor present ina eubi fet of sr othe genes amount of ‘vapor which tht arc hold at a given temperate, ‘When the relative humidity i 10% the air cannot hold any more water and therfore, water will not evaporate in 100% humid When the RH is 100% the WET isthe same he DBT, becase the water cannot evaporate any more. Bt when the RH is ess han 100% the WT wile ese than he DBT and water will evaporate The capability of the coling tower ta mente of how clowe the tower can bring the water temperature tothe WBT ofthe entering alt. larger ccling tower Le, more air andor more il] wll produce a cose approach colder leaving water) fora gven eat load ow rate and entering ae ‘onion. The lover the WAT, which indicate ether ool i, ly humidity or a combination of the ‘wo the lower can the cooing tower can col the water. The thermal performance ofthe cooing wer Is us acted by the ener, WBT; the entering alr DBT hasan insignia effect on thermal perfomance In actual practic the inal cold water temperature wil always beat eas few degrees above (WT, depending on design codons. Its ot customary in he cooling tower industy to guarantee any sppronch len than 5 ala gig canes rate Cooting Tower {Counter-Flowl Theory -Merkel Equation Figure trates a drop of water aling through an _petteam of unsaturated rata wet bulb temperature of [WET with entalpyhs, in a counter Gow coling ower. The eop of water a asumed tobe surrounded by ln of strated ara the water temperate WT with saturation éentalpy hw As the drop tuavelsdownvar, hea and mass "rater takes pace rom the interface ales to the up stream ai thereby cootng te water rom ITWT to CWT. This cooing proces can best be explained on a Paychometric Chart The Tar process shown in figure? . (Waar Opa Knownas the Driving Force . = Diagram The airfimisepre- | gp ‘Wt Eby via Foe sented by the Water Operating ‘The main aris represented by the Alt Operating ine, the TU ati. The cooing cara tei a “degree of icy to cooing is epreseted bythe Merkel Egon (Rr opeamg ie EMMVLPY ae) eeuesesees ravits J —# = The Mere Egusion primanty | cam saystutatany pontine | ons tower bestand watervaporae | ne [ppc oe tee | FS = Tevuricr ee mer andthe | S24 Staoeaa® tainsteamoftesie"Tus, | 92 . the dvngoreat any points | am op the two operting ines And oe we DE Ow Dw ww OI therefore he proenance sewrenarune ras demanded from the cooling toweris the inverse of this ference, The sotion ofthe Metkel Equation can be represented bythe Pertrmance Demand Diagram shown n gure 3. The Ka. vale sequal the area under the ‘An increase inthe entering WBT moves the Air Operating Lin towards the right and upward {oestablah equilrium. Both the CWT and HWT increases, wile he approach dncreses. The ‘curvature ofthe saturation lines such that the approach decreases a a progressively slower rte a the ‘WOT increase, ‘An incest inthe hat load increases the cooing ranges and increases the length ofthe Ait ‘Operating Line. To maintain equilibrium, the line shifts the right ineeasng the HWT, CWT, an aa grag citer ph race approach, The increase causes the hot water lemperature to increase considerably faster than does the ‘oldwaterteraperstuse Inboth these cases the KaV/L. shoul remain constant However, 2 changein LG wil change the KaV/L value Cooling Tower Designing ‘On the bass ofthe above discussion, ts clea that there are fve parameters thatin combination lctate and define the performance ofa cooling tower 1 Hot Water Temperature -HWT, 2, Cold Water Temperature CWT, 3 Wet Bulb Temperature -WBT, 4, Water ow Rate 5, Air low Rate The fist fur data are the ones, which are given by the user. The fone (solace by the cooling tower designer. Once theae five data are avalable, the lower characteristic [KAVL canbe ‘elated trough the Merkel Equation ‘The first step in cooling tower designing isthe generation ofa Demand Curve In this curve, the KV values are ploted against varying the LG ration The next step 6 a superimpose fl characteristics curves and demand curves {Conling Technolgy Init has teste 3 varity ffl ‘onfgurations an generated fil characterise curves for each typ, CT's Technical Paper TP88-05 can be refered ton ths regard] ‘Cootng Tower designing isbascallyan erative process. The factors that effect the selection of design L/G and consequently the fil eight ar. el dimensions, water loading alr elocies across ‘anus cooling ower sections ad presse drops an fan selection ease refer to figure 3 blow, which isa screen pit ofall Engineering's colin tower designing program. NS TOWN DUETENR parser [reo a Ferm a Facssse te fesse prom feet Safes oe pst eseeere[ ope or =a Eats rias ‘Common Misconceptions hy Tomei Caving th Water20" Mary people have bee guilty at onetime or another of defining ‘wnat cooling towers doing in terms of ange (HWT-CWT), Often, this is accepted a aleve of Peformance ofthe conling tower Nothing could be further fom the truth. The equation for best load fs follows eat Load [Bry] = 500+ Water Flow Rate (GPM x Range HF] Now est oad f corse i supplied bythe uni ing served bythe cooling ower. The tower iets ‘either a heat source nora eat sink In the usual circulating ystom the eat oad is independent of the cooing tower: The umber 5003 constant therefore is dependent of the cooling ower The relating water ow is determine by the numberof pumps ring and the presse drop inthe ‘overall ccalating water system, Therefor, ikewie i independant ofthe caling twee I heat ood the constant, and the zelaing water flaw ae all independent ofthe cooing ‘ower, thon by mathematical deduction the range is tkewise completely independent of the cooling tower Therefore, the ranges the same whether there isa two-cel tower or a fourcel tower: The range would be the sme the fans were on fll-sped,hal-sped, or turd of, Consequcnly such ‘Satement at "My tover i not performing beste [bog tt co] 20%, andi ony cooling the teaer 10° has no validity whateocver, Likewise, the converse is true, Someone whe has a coaling tower wich is "coling the water 30” whereas i was only designe to col 20”, may not be iach a forenate poston as he might think Both these cases show no indication whatsoever of actual thermal capably of the cooling tower. What then isa measure ofthe theral capability of the caling tower? Its not the umount of neat being tejeted, rather is the lel a which this heats ejects. The ras of perfrmae of he cong owe the resultant cold water empeatre een mee special the approach (CHT-WBT) der ‘Freaconditions. Cold water ternperatre isthe primary dependent varsble and vividly indiciea ‘cooing tower capably Aves ‘Approach is CWT minus WET, Another misconception that constantly crops up in ootng tower work Isconceeing approach One wil say,"Tboughta tower to make 10" approach, yet havea 15° _spposch today. Therefore, the cooling tower nt working in ccordance with i desig: ‘Asthe WT goes down, the CWT ao goes down Tower this snot aone-0-0ne reaonship. Us more neatly a two-to-one relationship. That fr each 2°F drop in WBT, the CWT. wil drop approximately IF Therefore, ifthe WB i 10" below design WBI, then by defition the proach il be nreased 3 above that specified a design OF ore, the converse ils teas we bulb increases above design, then Ue cold water temperature wll nrease oughly one degree foreach ‘ove degre incense wel bull These are rangh appenimations and om be changed somewhat by ferent LG ration ‘Therefore, when attempting o determine whether or not performance appeats tobe satsacory other than design coritions ti wir ties the coating tower performanee caret or the CTL le Bock wth costing tower characteristic curves rather than to just compare the atl approach to the design ait aes Today we eo more and moe interest in low def oss cooling lowers. This increased interest hasbeen brought about by evel aro. The major fcr is conti insatence bythe regalo bois that hittoes be minize to rece ecological eects "A second factor i an allempl to reduce water cost and reling costs by reducing water ala gig canes ratte ‘consumption However lt us now lok atthe asi concep “reducing dit os reduces water consumption” Water lost out ofa coling lower in the follwing ways del evaporation, Blowdown and windage ‘ait sss alos of water due to physica entrainment of guid droples inthe ae steam. This places water, with te atlendantdinolved oid, in iquid form in Ihe attoaphere. Windage sf sla nature but wally much smaller in quantity. Windage the somes loss of water through the louvered area ofthe tower due to win blowing threugh the twee. This ocurs more often with ‘operation nf the fans athalspeed oa For the purposes af this dscusio, we wil ensider windage | portion of dit ls Theft that dit asves the cooing towers guid water, hereby containing is proportionate share of dissolved slid ithe imporant factor to remembez In order to nintain a prope total disolved slide content level ia cooing tower, itis necessryt continously ble down or throwsway a portion of ciculatng water This is done to Prevent the tower fom accumulating excessive amounts f ttl dissolved solids which would cause Severe scale ano eoerosion problems This sof wate om teste i absolutely eserl and “annot be avo forthe sicestleperatin ofthe cooling tower. Therefore, its more properly ‘elie "involuntary blowdown,” It now becomes readily apparent that any decrease inthe rif oss ‘ro the cooing tower will lt in an equivalent increase neesary in the Blowdown in erderto prevent excessive solids lp. When views inthis manner, iis evident hat lowering dit ose oes nt reduce water consumption and consequently does not sve anything i asi water cast at chemical resting costs ‘Another common misconception occurs when large clouds of "og" emanate from cooing towers under certain atmospheric conditions. Many people assume that drift sa major contributing factor. However, this fog” quit diferent rom deft as this wate leaves the system inthe vapor sate and recondenss to smal roplets after encountering the relatively coe ambien ait Te og uelf does not carry with the dissolved slid and consequenly doesnot into the eatery of involuntary blow dovn Furthermore iteannot be stopped by zeducing detose. Therefore, ne should not speity more stringent di ss requirements reduce fogging, Energy and money would bbeexpended for absolutely ne benef “The oly rel justifcation for eduction of dita ia based onthe nature ofthe aren wher the

    You might also like