LAB REPORT

Submitted To:
Engr.Muhammad Umer Bin Nooman
Submitted By:
Haris Sattar
Registration No:

MET-44-2K18
Course Name:
INDUSTRIAL THERMAL UTILITIES

ABSTRACT:
This experiment was conducted to perform energy
and mass balance on the cooling tower syst em and to obser ve the
e ffe ct s of one of t he pro cess var iables on the exit temperature
of water. For water cooling tower experiment, there are several
parameters that can be adjusted to observe its effects on the
evaporation of water. The parameters are temperature, flow rate of
water, relative humidity, flow rate of air and cooling load. In this
experiment, we choose flow rate of water, type of blower, and power as the
variables. For the flow rate of water, we use 1.0 LPM, 1.5 LPM and
2.0 LPM. Types of blower are fully opened, half opened and fully
closed. The powers are 0.5 kW, 1.0 kW and 1.5 kW. The steady flow
equations which is energy and mass balances were employed in
order to provide a sight on the amount of energy transferred between
phases under different conditions.

INTRODUCTION:
The laboratory cooling tower is a cooling tower unit
from a commercial air conditioning system used to study the principles of
cooling tower operation. It is used in conjunction with a residential size
water heater to simulate a cooling tower used to provide cool water to an
industrial process. In the case of the laboratory unit, the cooling tower
process load is provided by the water heater. The laboratory cooling tower
allows for complete control of the speed of the fan used in cooling the warm
return water and the pump used to return the cooled water to the water
heater. Experiments can be conducted which study how adjustment of one
or both of these parameters affects the amount of heat removed from the
water provided to the water heater. The remainder of this report will explain
the theory behind the operation of a cooling tower and how the laboratory
cooling tower is operated. An example of a mass and energy balance on
the laboratory cooling tower will be presented along with the results of
experiments in which the rate of heat dissipated by the tower was
calculated at full capacity and when the pump speed and fan speed were
varied independently.
OBJECTIVE:
To study the performance at different ranges cooling load
and inlet temperature of cooling tower.

THEORY:
The cooling tower experiment operate according to the First Law
of Thermodynamics which is the conservation of energy. Energy can
neither be created nor destroyed, just transformed from one form to
another. The energy that enter the system must exit the system as it can
diffuse through the system. Energy that enters the cooling tower is in the
form of hot water. (Other energy contributions such as heat generation from
friction of both air and water, energy losses from pipes, etc. are ignored.)
This hot water was cooled from temperature T1to a temperature of T2. The
cooling of the hot water was in the form of forced convection 3 by which
ambient air at T1 was blown over the hot water and exited the cooling
tower at some temperature T2. The data of both th and the exit
temperature was recorded. The main component of the energy balance is
enthalpy which is defined as: H= U+PV. H= enthalpy U =internal energy
P=pressure V = is volume This equation is related to the heat as it is use to
calculate the enthalpy of the system. Enthalpy can be calculated or
referenced from tables of data for the fluid being used. In this experiment
we used the air and water as the fluids in the cooling tower. Enthalpy
values can be obtained from a thermodynamics textbook. For example:
Since both the initial and final temperatures of the input hot water and the
output cool water were measured, the temperature T in can be referenced
and the enthalpy (BTU/ or KJ/kg) can be recorded. The enthalpy of the
output cooled water can be similarly referenced and an energy balance
Can be conducted for the water The equation below displays the general
method to conduct an energy balance: in = out where H = H in - H out. The
change in enthalpy for air can be determined form either of two methods.
Since the air is at low pressure, it can be treated as an ideal gas and the
enthalpy change can be calculated through the use of the following
equation: H = T (3) where H is the change in enthalpy, T is the change in
temperature, and CP is the specific heat with respect to constant pressure.
As water going into the cooling tower it loses energy. The enthalpy of the
water going into the tower can be determined by using the enthalpy of
saturated liquid water in a steam table. The enthalpy of the water coming
out of the tower can be determined in the same way. The data in steam
tables are usually not given for every temperature so linear interpolation
must be performed to determine the enthalpy at the desired temperature.
Then the enthalpy of the water is multiplied by the mass flow rate. A basis
of an operation of 1 minute was chosen to make the calculation easier. The
change in enthalpy for the water is determined by . The change in energy
of the air can be determined using the same methodology as was used for
water.
APPARATUS:

SOLTEQ Cooling Tower

Control panel
Stopwatch

PROCEDURE :
Flow rate constant
 1) Set point (SP) temperature was set to 45⁰C. The 0.5kW water heater
was switch on and the water was heated to 40⁰C.
2) After the water reached 40⁰C, the pump was switched on and the
control valve V1 was slowly opened and the water flow rate set to 1
L/min.
3) The damper was partially open, and blower was switched on after the
water already went through the cooling tower.
4) The unit was run for 20 minutes to ensure float valve correctly
adjusted the level in the load tank. The make-up tank was refilled as
required.
5) Temperature of dry and wet bulb in the tank (T1) and (T2), dry and
wet bulb on top of the column (T3) and (T4), water supply to the
column (T5) and water receive from the column (T6) were recorded.
6) The differential pressure with the same flow rate of 1 L/min, the
experiment was repeated with different power of water heater of
1.0kW and 1.5kW.
7) All data required recorded after 10 minutes to ensure the unit
stabilized.

Heater power constant

1) Set point (SP) temperature was set to 45⁰C. The 0.5kW water heater
was switch on and the water was heated to 40⁰C.
2) After the water reached 40⁰C, the pump was switched on and the
control valve V1 was slowly opened and the water flow rate set to 1
L/min.
3) The damper was partially open, and blower was switched on after the
water already went through the cooling tower.
 4) The unit was run for 20 minutes to ensure float valve correctly
adjusted the level in the load tank. The make-up tank was refilled as
required.
5) With the same heater power of 1.0kW, the experiment was repeated
with different flow rate of 2 L/min and 3 L/min
6) All data required recorded after 10 minutes to ensure the unit
stabilized.

RESULT:
Manipulated variable: Heater Power

Constant Variable: Water flowrate =1 L/min

Blower opening: fully open

Heater power 0.5 1.0 1.5

(kW)
T1 32.4 32.6 32.7

T2 30.4 30.1 30.1

T3 27.1 27.6 29

T4 28.4 28.3 30

T5 36.4 38.7 44.5

T6 26.3 26.4 27.3

Differential 56 51 49
Pressure
 (Orifice)
Differential 73 68 66
Pressure
(Column)

Manipulated variable: Water flowrate

Constant Variable: Heater Power = 1.0kW

Blower opening: fully open

Flow rate 1.0 2.0 3.0

(litre/min)
T1 32.8 32.9 32.7

T2 30.0 30.0 39.8

T3 27.4 28.4 27.7

T4 28.8 29.4 28.8

T5 40.0 33.7 32.2

T6 26.5 27.6 27.9

Differential 61 59 49
Pressure
(Orifice)
Differential 83 81 66
Pressure
(Column)

CALCULATION:
Experiment 1

Water flow rate remains constant = 1.0 L/min

The variable is the heater powert = 0.5 kW, 1.0 kW and 1.5 kW

Change in temperature for each power supply, ΔT (cooling range) = water

inlet temperature, T5 – water outlet temperature, T6

 At power = 0.5 kW,

ΔT = T5 – T6 = 34.2 – 24.5 = 9.7

 At power = 1.0 kW

ΔT = T5 – T6 = 37.5 – 24.9 = 12.6

 At power = 1.5 kW,

ΔT = T5 – T6 = 42.8 – 25.3 = 17.5

DISCUSSION:
This experiment was done by using SOLTEQ Water
Cooling Tower (Model HE152) unit. Cooling tower is used to remove heat
from water by using air. When the warm water and cooler air are mixing, it
releases the latent heat of vaporization which causes a cooling effect to the
water (What Is A Cooling Tower, 2017). By using the cooling tower unit,
two experiments were done. The Experiment 1 was done to find out the
effect of the different heater power at 0.5 kW, 1.0 kW and 1.5kW towards
the cooling range of the cooling tower while Experiment 2 was conducted to
discover the effect of cooling tower with different water flow rate with 1.0
L/min, 2.0 L/min and 3.0 L/min.

The unit is provided with a packed column with the packing density of
approximately 110m2/m3. The cooling tower unit mainly contains of a load
tank with a total of 1.5 kW electric heater, an air distribution chamber, a
make-up tank and a test column. The unit is run when warm water is
pumped from the load tank until to the top of the column before being
distributed uniformly at the top packing. As the thin film of water is passing
downward, it is cooled because of the evaporation. The cooled water falls
into the basin and then it returns again into the load tank where it is
reheated and re-circulated. The load-tank water level is to be kept constant
by means of a make-up tank. A blower is installed on the unit to transfer air
into the air distribution chamber. Before entering the column, the air passes
the wet and dry bulb thermometers. When the air passes up the column, its
moisture content becomes higher and the water is cooled. Before being
discharged to the atmosphere, the air passes a mist eliminator at the top of
the column.

CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, for the experiment 1, the heater power that are used are
0.5kw, 1.0kw and 1.5kw which gives 9.7 OC, 12.6OC and 17.5OC
respectively. We can see that the increment in heater power causing the
increment of temperature. This indicates that the larger power of heater
used, the higher temperature changes. For experiment 2, the different
parameter was used which are water flowrate and the effect of cooling
water. The result shows different water flow rate gives different temperature
changes which are 1.0L/min, 2.0L/min, 3.0L/min and the temperature are
2.9OC, 6.3OC, and 4.2OC respectively. Based on graph 2, we can conclude
that the increment of water flow rate resulting in the decrement of
temperature changes. Based on the experiment, it can be concluded that
the experiment was successful as all the objectives of the experiment were
decided.

RECOMMENDATION:
Even though the experiment was successfully carried out, there may be
some errors in the experiment results that can be improves by students.
First and foremost, after 20 minutes of experiment running the temperature
changes must be recorded. Students might do some mistakes at that
moment because they were waiting for the temperature to be a little bit
stable and recorded it. Students can improve this by snap a picture of the
control panel exactly after 20 minutes of the running system. The timer also
must be tally with the running system to ensure the accuracy of the
experiment’s results. The equipment of the experiment should be checked
before the experiment started to make sure there is no leakage that could
affected the results. Lastly, students should conduct the experiment at least
three times to get the average for each experiment.