Cooling water leaves the condenser of a 3000 TR chiller of COP=5.

1 in a District
Cooling Plant and enters a cooling tower at 41°C. The water is cooled to 35°C in the
cooling tower by air that enters the tower at DB/WB =35/32.2°C and leaves at
DB/WB=40/39.7°C. determine (a) the condenser water flow rate (b) the volume flow
rate of air into the cooling tower in cfm and (c) the mass flow rate of the required
makeup water. (d) L/G ratio for the cooling tower

Solution:
Assumptions:

We take the entire cooling tower to

be the system, which is shown
schematically in the figure to the
right.
We note that the mass flow rate of
liquid water decreases by an
amount equal to the amount of
water that vaporizes in the tower
during the cooling process. The
water lost through evaporation
must be made up later in the cycle
to maintain steady operation.
Steady operating conditions exist
and thus the mass flow rate of dry
air remains constant during the
entire process.
(a)

𝐂𝐎𝐏 = the coefficient of performance for the refrigeration cycle, dimensionless

Cooling Load in kW
COP =
Work input in kW

(3000 𝑇𝑅 × 3.517 𝑘𝑊/𝑇𝑅) 10,551 𝑘𝑊

Work input = = = 2,068.82 𝑘𝑊
5.1 5.1

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛 + 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛 = 10,551 + 2,068.82 = 12,619.82 𝑘𝑊

12,619.82 𝑘𝑊
𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 = m∙w 𝐶𝑝 ∆𝑡 → m∙w =
4.18 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔. °𝐶 × (41 − 35)℃

𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 = m∙w = 𝟓𝟎𝟑. 𝟏𝟖 𝒌𝒈/𝒔

𝑚3∙ = 𝑚𝑤
∙ = 503.18 kg/s = 7,976 USgpm

(b)

Dry air mass balance: 𝑚𝑎̇ 1 = 𝑚𝑎̇ 2 = 𝑚̇ 𝑎

Water mass balance: 𝑚3̇ + 𝑚𝑎̇ 1 𝜔1 = 𝑚4̇ + 𝑚𝑎̇ 2 𝜔2

Or 𝑚3̇ − 𝑚4 ̇ = 𝑚𝑎̇ (𝜔2 − 𝜔1 ) = 𝑚𝑚𝑢
̇

Energy balance: ∑𝑖𝑛 𝑚̇ ℎ =∑𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚̇ ℎ → 𝑚𝑎̇ 1 ℎ1 + 𝑚̇ 3 ℎ3 = 𝑚𝑎̇ 2 ℎ2 + 𝑚̇ 4 ℎ4

Or 𝑚̇ 3 ℎ3 = 𝑚̇ 𝑎 (ℎ2 − ℎ1 ) + (𝑚̇ 3 − 𝑚𝑚𝑢

̇ ) ℎ4

Solving for 𝑚̇ 𝑎 gives:

𝑚̇ 3 (ℎ3 − ℎ4 ) 𝑚̇ 3 𝐶𝑝 (𝑇3 − 𝑇4 )
𝑚̇ 𝑎 = → 𝑚̇ 𝑎 =
(ℎ2 − ℎ1 ) − (𝜔2 − 𝜔1 ) ℎ4 (ℎ2 − ℎ1 ) − (𝜔2 − 𝜔1 ) 𝐶𝑝 𝑇4

Air properties at tower inlet DB/WB= 35°C/32.2°C

h1 KJ/kg 𝝎1 𝑘𝑔𝑤 /𝑘𝑔𝑎 𝜗1 𝑚3 /𝑘𝑔

111.6 0.0298 0.914

Air properties at tower exit DB/WB= 40°C/39.7°C

h2 KJ/kg 𝝎2 𝑘𝑔𝑤 /𝑘𝑔𝑎 𝜗2 𝑚3 /𝑘𝑔

163.5 0.0479 0.954
 503.18 × 4.18 (41 − 35)
𝑚𝑎∙ = = 256.23 𝑘𝑔/𝑠
(163.5 − 111.6) − [(0.0479 − 0.0298) × 4.18 × 35]

0.914 + 0.954 3
𝑚𝑎∙ = 256.23 𝑘𝑔/𝑠 × 𝑚 /𝑘𝑔 = 239.3188 𝑚3 /𝑠
2
507,093 𝑐𝑓𝑚
𝑚𝑎∙ = 507,093 𝑐𝑓𝑚 → 𝑚𝑎∙ /𝑇𝑅 = → 𝑚𝑎∙ = 𝟏𝟔𝟗 𝒄𝒇𝒎/𝑻𝑹
3000 𝑇𝑅
(c)

The mass flow rate of the required makeup water is determined from:

̇ = 𝑚𝑎̇ (𝜔2 − 𝜔1 ) = 256.23 (0.0479 − 0.0298) = 4.64 𝑘𝑔/𝑠

𝑚𝑚𝑢
∙
𝑚𝑚𝑢 4.64
∙
= = 0.0092 = 0.92%
𝑚𝑤 503.18

The above reveals that make up water flow rate in the cooling tower is
approximately 0.92% of the condenser water flow.

(d)
∙
𝐿 𝑚𝑤 503.18
= ∙ = = 1.96
𝐺 𝑚𝑎 256.23