By integration,

The integral on the right-hand side can be calculated by finding out the area between the saturation
enthalpy curve and the air operating line.

Graph of Saturation curve and Air operating line

COOLING TOWER CHARACTERISTIC

An equation form used to analyze the thermal performance capability of a specified cooling
tower was required. Currently, the following equation is widely accepted and is a very useful
to be able to superimpose on each demand curve, since KaV/L vs. L/G relationship is a linear
function on log-log demand curve.

KaV/L = C (L/G)-m

where,
KaV/L=Tower Characteristic, as determined by Merkel equation
C=Constant related to the cooling tower design, or the intercept of the characteristic curve at
L/G=1.0
m=Exponent related to the cooling tower design (called slope), determined from the test data