NOMENCLATURE

Symbol Definition Unit

CL Heat Capacity of Liquid kJ/kg.K

Co Orifice Coefficient -

h Height of the Tower m

H Humidity kg/kg dry air

Hy Enthalpy of Air kJ/kg dry air

HTU Height of Transfer Unit m

Kg Overall MAss Transfer Coefficient kmol/Pa.s.m3

NTU Number of Transfer Unit -

P Pressure atm

p Partial Pressure atm

RH Relative Humidity -

o
Tdb,in Inlet Dry-Bulb Temperature C

o
Twb,in Inlet Wet-Bulb Temperature C

uo Water Velocity m/s

V Air Velocity m/s

Q Volumetric Flow Rate m3/s

β The Ratio of Orifice Diameter -

ΔP Pressure Difference atm

⍴ Density kg/m3

1
1.INTRODUCTION

1.1.Cooling Towers

A cooling tower is a heat exchanger where air and water are brought. into direct. contact with
each other to decrease the temperature of water. During the process, i.e. water and air come
across, a small water. volume is evaporated and cooling. action takes place. Then, the cooled
water is pumped. back to the condenser in which it absorbs. heat. Cooling towers. provide cooled
water for air- conditioning, manufacturing and electric power generation. The term cooling tower.
describes both open. and closed. circuit heat. rejection equipment. An open circuit cooling tower,
also known as direct cooling tower, is an enclosed. structure with internal means to distribute. the
warm water fed. to it over a labyrinth- like. packing or fill.[1] The fill ensures an expanded air
water interface. for evaporation to occur and heating of the air. On the other hand, closed. circuit
tower, also called as an indirect. cooling tower contains no. direct contact of the air. Moreover,
unlike the direct cooling tower, closed circuit. tower has two separate fluid circuits.

Figure 1.1 Typical Closed Loop Cooling Tower System [2]

1.2.Types of Cooling Towers

Since cooling towers are not proper for all process, they are designed in several types and
numerous. sizes. Cooling towers are classified into two types.

Natural Draft Cooling Tower: It relies on natural convection to circulated. throughout the
tower. Because of the density. difference between the inlet air and the internal air, movement of
the air takes place. Moist air, being more dense than cool. air, will naturally increase. through the
tower. On the other hand, dry air will fall by creating. a constant cycle. of air flow.

2
 Figure 1.2 Natural Draft Cooling Towers [3]

Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers: In contradistinction to natural draft cooling towers, they
involve fans or another mechanics in order to circulate air. The common fans that are used in the
towers contains propeller and centrifugal. fans. When comparing natural draft cooling towers,
mechanical draft cooling towers are more effective. Nevertheless, they consume more power and
more cost in order to operate.

Figure 1.3 Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers- Counter flow and Cross flow [4]

1.3.Cooling Tower Operation

In order to understand the theory of the cooling towers, the theory of the humidification is
well known, because the cooling towers are referred as humidification. columns. Humidification

3
is a heat and mass transfer. operation where the liquid is contacted. with an insoluble. gas. In the
column, liquid and gas are contacted in counter. current in order to increase the gas vapor
content. During the evaluating performance of the cooling towers, some back-ground information
and related equations are needed to be known.

Humidity is identified as the amount. of vapor. present in 1 kg of dry air. Also, percentage
relative. humidity is defined as the ratio. of partial. pressure of water to partial pressure at
equilibrium.
Percentage relative humidity =100. P/Po Eqn 1

Cs (humid heat of an air- water mixture) is known as the amount. of heat that is required
for the increasing the temperature. of the dry air+ water. The equation of the Cs is represented
below.

C s  1.005  1.88  H Eqn 2

Humid enthalpy is the total. enthalpy of 1 kg of air and the water vapor. In the calculation,
reference temperature is considered.

H H  C s  (T  To )  H  λ o Eqn 3

Also, to find out the water flow rate, orifice meter is used and the equation of this is
shown below.

P1  P2
Co  2 
ρ
Vo  Eqn 4
4
D 
1   o 
 D1 
Operating line equation is written by considering energy balance around the column. The
slope of the operating line can be found by graphically and analytically. The analytical slope
equation is given in the following equation.

L1  L 2
L ave  Eqn 5
2

H y2  H y1 L ave  C L
Operating Line Slope  m   Eqn 6
Tl1  Tl 2 V

4
 To find out the overall mass transfer coefficients, NTU-HTU method is applied. NTU is
the term that represents the number of transfer units and the HTU is called as height of the
transfer units. The equations of these terms are shown below.

h  NTU  HTU Eqn 7

H y2
dH y
NTU 
H
H y1 y
*
 Hy Eqn 8

V
HTU  Eqn 9
K y  A  P  MW

H y2
G dH y
h
MB  KG  a  P
 
H y1
H y*  H y
Eqn 10

5
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
In this experiment, the aim is to investigate the process of cooling tower and calculate
performance of the cooling tower. First of all, since the water was not enough for the system, the
necessary valves were opened to fill the cooling tower. Then, pump of the heat exchanger was
operated after the valves were closed. Afterwards, the air fan was started. Moreover, the valve
which was necessary to supply water lost because of the humidity was opened. The water flow
rate was adjusted by using orifice meter which was connected to the u-tube manometer. In
addition, the manometer was filled with CCl4 and the inner diameter of orifice meter was 2 in
whereas the outer was 4 in. The barometric pressure was also recorded. By using thermocouples,
inlet and outlet water temperature, inlet and outlet dry bulb temperature of air, inlet and outlet
wet bulb temperature of air were written down every three minutes until the system reached a
steady state. Furthermore, during the experiment, thermocouples of the wet bulb should be wetted
in every ten minutes. When the system reached the steady state, the water back up was also
measured, and air velocity was measured by using anemometer. Since there was a problem about
the steam production because of the weather, second run and third run could not be carried out.

Air Outlet Steam Inlet

Hot Water

Cold Water Heat Ex.

Cooling Make-up Water Pump

Tower Thermocouples
Steam Outlet

Air Fan Air Inlet

Figure 2.1 Representative Schema for Experimental Set-Up

6
3. RESULTS

The main objective of this experiment is understand the cooling tower working principle
and determines the efficiency of the tower. In order to achieve these, wet and dry bulb
temperatures were noted. Since steam of the heat exchanger did not work after run 1, calculations
were done by considering run 1 data. Run 1 data can be found in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Recorded data for Run 1

Water Air
Air Velocity
Tw,in (oC) Tw,out (oC) Tdb,in (oC) Twb,in (oC) Twb,out (oC) Tdb,out (oC)
(m/s)
Run 1 33.7 26.5 26.7 16.6 28.8 29 4.1

For 2.113 kg/s flow rate could only be considered. Humidity and relative humidity data
for the air were found at 1 atm by using Psychometric chart. These data were calculated for
0.89atm. The results of these can be seen in Table 3.2. Also, calculations were shown in
Appendix part.

Table 3.2 Humidity and relative humidity data at 1 atm and 0.89 atm

Humidity (kg/kg da) Relative Humidity (%)

Run 1 (inlet) 0.0112 55.0
P=1atm
Run 1 (outlet) 0.0254 89.8
0.0136
Run 1 (inlet) 53.289
0.0255
P=0.89atm
0.0285
Run 1 (outlet) 97.325
0.0293

Moreover, saturated air enthalpy and temperature data were collected from literature for
different pressure case with experiment conditions. For 1 atm pressure data was found from
psychometric chart. For 0.89 atm pressure data was collected from literature. Results of these can
be seen Figure 3.1.

7
 For 1 atm For 0.89 atm

200

180

160
Enthalpy (kJ/ kg dry air)

140

120

100

80

60

40

20
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Temperature (oC)

Figure 3.1 Temperature vs. Enthalpy for 1 atm and 0.89 atm

For 1atm and 0.89 atm, enthalpy of inlet and outlet air stream was calculated and
tabulated Table 3.3.

Table 3.3 Inlet and Outlet Enthalpies for 1 atm and 0.89 atm

Inlet Enthalpy (kJ/kg da) Outlet Enthalpy (kJ/kg da)

For 1 atm 29.583 65.925
For 0.89 atm 66.071 75.893

Operating line and equilibrium line can be drawn by considering Table 3.3. These lines
were drawn for 1atm and 0.89 atm, respectively. Figure 3.2 and 3.3 show the equilibrium curve
and operating line. The slope of equilibrium line was found analytically and graphically.

8
 160

140

120
Enthalpy (kJ/kg)

100

80

60

40 y = 15.801x - 392.31

20
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Temperature(oC)

Figure 3.2 Equilibrium and operating line for 1 atm

200
180
160
140
Enthalpy (kJ/kg)

120
100
80
60
y = 4.2708x - 47.959
40
20
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Temperature(oC)

Figure 3.3 Equilibrium and operating line for 0.89 atm

The result of the analytical and experimental results for operating line slope can be seen
Table 3.4.

9
 Table 3.4 Analytical and graphical slopes for 1atm and 0.89atm

L (kg/s) G (kg/s) Graphical Slope Analytical Slope

For 1 atm 2.113 3.142 15.801 2.816
For 0.89 atm 2.113 2.797 4.2708 3.164

For NTU and HTU calculation, following data was used for 1atm and 0.89 atm.

Table 3.5 Enthalpy data for NTU and HTU calculation at 1 atm

T (oC) Hy Hy* Hy*-Hy 1/(Hy*-Hy)

26.700 29.583 86.962 57.379 0.0174
27.360 40.000 90.049 50.049 0.0199
27.993 50.000 93.062 43.062 0.0232
28.625 60.000 96.122 36.122 0.0277
29.000 65.925 97.957 32.031 0.0312

Table 3.6 Enthalpy data for NTU and HTU calculation at 0.89 atm

T Hy Hy* Hy*-Hy 1/(Hy*-Hy)

26.700 66.071 91.198 25.127 0.0398
27.152 68.000 93.493 25.493 0.0392
27.620 70.000 95.926 25.926 0.0386
28.088 72.000 98.412 26.412 0.0379
29.000 75.894 103.415 27.521 0.0363

The represented graph of Table 3.5 can be found below. Area under the curve was used
for the NTU calculation.

10
 0.032
y = 9E-08x3 - 8E-06x2 + 0.0004x + 0.0089
0.03 R² = 1
0.028
0.026
1/(Hy*-Hy) 0.024
0.022
0.02
0.018
0.016
29 34 39 44 49 Hy 54 59 64 69

Figure 3.4 Hy versus 1/(Hy*-Hy) graph for 1 atm

By using same manner, the graph for drawn for 0.89 atm and it can be seen from Figure
3.5.

0.04

0.0395

0.039
y = 1E-07x3 - 3E-05x2 + 0.0024x - 0.0131
0.0385

0.038
1/(Hy*-Hy)

0.0375

0.037

0.0365

0.036

0.0355

0.035
66 68 70 72 74 76
Hy

Figure 3.5 Hy versus 1/(Hy*-Hy) graph for 0.89 atm

After calculating curve equations, NTU was calculated. HTU was determined by
considering NTU and height of the active area. Results were done by considering inlet and outlet
air enthalpy data. NTU and HTU values can be seen Table 3.7.

11
 Table 3.7 NTU and HTU values for 1atm and 0.89 atm

NTU HTU (m)

For 1 atm 0.745 1.611

For 0.89 atm 0.4106 2.923

Percentage error of NTU for different pressure value was found as 44.89%. Moreover,
overall mass transfer coefficient for 1 atm and 0.89 atm were calculated and they were tabulated
in Table 3.8.

Table 3.8 Overall mass transfer coefficient with respect to pressure

Overall Mass Transfer Coefficient (kmol/Pa.s.m3)

For 1 atm 0.00183

For 0.89 atm 0.00101

Since experiment was done for one liquid flow rate, liquid flow rate versus overall mass
transfer graph is just a point and it can be seen from Figure 3.6.

0.0053
Overall Mass Transfer Coefficient

0.00528
(kmol/(s.Pa.m3))

0.00526

0.00524

0.00522

0.0052
2.08 2.1 2.12 2.14
Liquid Flow Rate (kg/s)

Figure 3.6 Liquid flow rate versus overall mass transfer coefficient

12
 By using nomograph in Perry’ Handbook [6], the tower characteristic was calculated. Since
the graph was in terms of oF, cold water temperature and wet bulb temperature were converted
from Celsius to Fahrenheit. Then, L/G and KaV/L values were read from the nomograph. The
results were shown in below.

Table 3.9 Tower Characteristics

Cold Water Wet Bulb

Run L/G KaV/L
Temperature (oF) Temperature (oF)

1 79.7 83.84 0.41 2.5

13
4. DISCUSSION
The main goal of this experiment is to investigate operation of the cooling tower and the
calculation of the power performance. In order to achieve this purpose, the water supplied from
the heat exchanger was cooled with air. The heat exchanger was using 110oC-115oC steam to
heat up the water. The heated water was send to the top of the tower, and then was cooled down
across the tower and send back to the heat exchanger. The water lost that was lost because of
mass transfer to air was added by opening necessary valve at the beginning of the experiment.
Until the steady state was reached, the temperature of the air and water were recorded. The wet
bulb and dry bulb temperature of air was noted down. By decreasing the flow rate of water, the
system was observed. However, the steam could not heat the water properly because of the steam
conditions. Therefore, only one run was performed in the experiment.

The humidity and relative humidity of air streams were read from psychometric chart at 1
atm by considering wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures of air. The humidity values of the air
were resulted in. an. expected. way. However, the relative humidity of outlet air was not
reasonable. The reason of this, the wet bulb temperature of the air was really close to dry bulb
temperature of the air because the water was not properly given the system. Another reason could
be the air outlet may be affected by the environment. Moreover, the humidity and relative
humidity were also calculated at 0.89 atm which was the pressure of the experiment condition.
The result of these calculations was higher when they were compared to 1 atm. Since the water
has more inclination to pass vapor phase at low pressures, this situation was expected. The
relative humidity values were lower than the atmospheric pressure as we expected. Thus, it was
understood that the relative humidity is a function of pressure and temperature.

Moreover, the enthalpy of air was determined for inlet and outlet stream. By using
enthalpy data, operating line of the cooling tower was drawn for 1 atm and 0.89 atm. Slope of the
L  CL
operating line gives and this value was calculated for analytically and graphically.
G
However, it can be seen that the difference between the analytical and graphical slope was huge
at 1 atm whereas these values were slightly close each other at 0.89 atm. The reason of this
difference is that wrong measurement of the wet bulb and dry bulb temperature because of the

14
old thermocouples. Another difference could be wrong readings from psychometric chart. On the
other hand, there was no significant difference for 0.89 atm.

After that, number of transfer units (NTU) was calculated for each pressure value. After
drawing equilibrium and operating line of the enthalpies, in order to get more accurate results,
five different enthalpies were selected between inlet and outlet dry bulb temperatures. By using
these enthalpy values, temperature values were found from the operating line. Then from that
temperature, enthalpy was read with respect to equilibrium curve. Consequently, it was found as
0.745 for 1 atm while it was determined as 0.4106 for 0.89 atm. Nevertheless, the percentage
error due. to. deviation. of. barometric. pressure. from. the. standard. pressure. was found as
approximately 45%. The reason of that could be some parameters such as relative humidity,
humidity and enthalpy are influenced by the pressure. Also, HTU was calculated for each
pressure value. The value of HTU increased when the pressure decreased.

By using HTU, the overall mass transfer coefficient was determined. It was seen that
when the pressure decreased, the value of overall mass transfer coefficient also decreased.
Furthermore, the tower characteristic of the cooling tower was calculated by using nomograph.
The ratio of L/G was found as 0.41 whereas KaV/L was 2.5. The make-up water was determined
because it was necessary to supply water in order to compensate the lost water due to the
humidity.

15
5. CONCLUSION
The main objective of this experiment is that investigating the cooling tower process and
the tower performance evaluation. In the system, the heated water was cooled down by using air.
Moreover, the flow rate of the water couldn’t be varied because there was a trouble about the
steam during the experiment. Therefore, all calculations were done only for the first water flow
rate. The humidity and relative humidity were calculated for each pressure. For 1 atm, the
humidity of the inlet was found as 0.0112 kg/kg dry air, the outlet was determined as 0.0254
kg/kg dry air. Moreover, the relative humidity for inlet and outlet was found as 55% and 99.80%,
respectively. From these results, it was understood that the relative humidity of outlet air was not
acceptable. The reason of this could be that air was influenced by the environment. On the other
hand, for 0.89 atm, the humidity was calculated as 0.0136 kg/kg dry air for inlet wet bulb
temperature, 0.0255 kg/kg dry air was for inlet dry bulb temperature. The result of 0.89 atm was
higher compared to 1 atm, and it was concluded that pressure and temperature affect the
humidity. Also, the inlet and outlet enthalpy of air stream was determined. Then, for each
pressure, operating line and equilibrium line were plotted. From this graphs, it was seen that there
was a big difference between the analytical and graphical slope for 1 atm because of measuring
the wet bulb and dry bulb temperature wrong. Besides, the NTU and HTU values were
calculated. When the pressure was 0.89 atm, the number of transfer unit decreased. As a result of
this calculation, the percentage error was found as 45%. Moreover, overall mass transfer
coefficient was calculated and it decreased at 0.89 atm compared to the atmospheric pressure.
The make up for 1 L was measured as 6 min 43 sec. Also, the water flow rate can have an effect
on the calculated parameters, but it couldn’t have observed because of the steam trouble.

16
6. REFERENCES

[1] What is Cooling Tower? (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.cti.org/whatis/coolingtowerdetail.shtml

[2] Typical closed loop cooling tower system - Figure 1 of 2. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/271251295_fig1_Fig-1-Typical-closed-loop-cooling- tower-
system

[3] Cooling Towers (Energy Engineering). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://what-when-

how.com/energy-engineering/cooling-towers-energy-engineering/

[4] Thermidaire water treatment chemicals cooling towers introduction and types. (n.d.).
Retrieved from http://www.thermidaire.on.ca/cooling-towers-introduction.html

[5] Psychrometric Chart | Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://lehighcheme.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/psychrometric-chart-2/

[6] Perry, H.R., D.W. Green, J.O. Maloney, “Perry’s Chemical Engineer’s Handbook”, 6th Ed.,
McGraw Hill, New York, 1984, pp.12-3 to 12-24.

17
APPENDIX - A.1

Humidity and Relative Humidity Calculation

For 1atm,

Calculation of humidity and relative humidity were done by using psychometric chart
which can be seen in Appendix A.2.

Tdb,in = 26.7oC and Twb,in = 16.6oC

By using above temperatures, humidity can be found as 0.00112 kg/ kg dry air. Moreover,
relative humidity was seen as 55%.

For 0.89 atm,

P = 0.89 atm and partial pressure (p) 0.019 atm

MWwater p
Humidity  
MWair P  p

(Twb,in= 16.6oC) Humidity = (18.02/28.97)*(0.019/(0.89-0.019)) = 0.0136 kg/ kg dry air.

(Tdb,in =26.7oC) Humidity = (18.02/28.97)*(0.035/(0.89-0.035)) = 0.0255 kg/ kg dry air.

Humidity(T )
Relative Humidity (%)  wb
 100
Humidity(T db )

Relative Humidity = 0.0136/0.0255 = 53.289%

Calculation of Air Enthalpies

The following equation was used for air enthalpy calculation. Reference temperature was
taken as 0oC.

H y  (1.005  1.88  H)  (T  0)  2501.4  H

Tdb,in = 26.7oC and Humidity was found 0.0112 from psychometric chart. (Air inlet condition for
1 atm)

18
Hy = (1.005+1.88(0.0112)).(26.7-0)+2501.4*0.0112 =29.58 kJ/kg dry air

This procedure is repeated for 0.89 atm case.

Water and Air Flow Rate Calculation

For Water,

Flow rate of the water was found following formula,

Co 2  ΔP
uo  
1 β 4 ρ

uo is the velocity of the water (m/s)

Co is the orifice coefficient = 0.619

β is the ratio of orifice meter diameter to pipe diameter = 0.5

ΔP is the pressure difference

ρ is the water density

In order to calculate pressure difference, CCl4 difference in the manometer was read as 23cm.

ρ CCl4 = 1586.7 kg/m3

ρ water = 992 kg/m3 ( @ Average temperature of the water inlet and outlet )

ΔP = (1586.7-992)*9.81*(0.23) = 1341.82 Pa

Then,

0.619 2  1341.82
uo    1.05m/s
1  0.5 4 992

Q = A*uo = π(0.0509/2)2 *1.05 = 0.00213 m3/s

L = Q*ρ = 0.00213*992 = 2.113 kg/s

19
For air,

VAir = 4.1 m/s

Q = Afan*VAir = 4.1* π(0.068/2)2 = 2.654 m3/s

V = Q*ρAir = 2.654*(1.184) = 3.142 kg/s

Calculation of Operating Line Analytically and Graphically

Analytically,

L  c L 2.113  4.187
Operating line slope    2.816
G 3.142

Graphically,

Slope can be read from the operating equation which was drawn by using Excel.

Calculation of Number of Transfer Unit (NTU) and Height of Transfer Unit (HTU)

NTU of 1 atm can be determined by using Figure 3.3 equation.

29.583

 9 10
8
 H y  8  10 6  H y  0.0004  H y  0.0089  0.745
3 2

65.925

h  HTU  NTU

Where h is the height of the active area = 1.2m

HTU = 1.2/0.745 = 1.611 m

Calculation of Percentage Error of NTU

NTU (1atm) = 0.745

NTU (0.89atm) = 0.411

NTU(1atm)  NTU(0.89at m) 0.745  0.411

Error(%)   100   100  44.88%
NTU(1atm) 0.745

20
Calculation of Overall Mass Transfer Coefficient

Mass transfer coefficient was found by using HTU. Overall mass transfer coefficient calculation
can be found below.

G 3.142 kmol
Kg    0.00183
P  MW air  HTU  AFan 101.325  28.97  1.611  0.3626 Pa  s  m 3

APPENDIX – A.2

Figure A.2 Psychrometric Chart [5]

21
APPENDIX-A.3

Figure A.3 Nomograph [6]

22