what is a cooling tower?

 The cooling tower is one of the most important device in chemical

industries for example when the hot water come from heat exchanger
we use the cooling tower to cool it.
 The purpose of cooling tower is to cool relatively warm water by
contacting with unsaturated air. The evaporation of water mainly
provides cooling.
 In a typical water cooling water tower, warm water flows
countercurrent to an air stream. Typically, the warm water enters the
top of packed tower and cascades down through the packing, leaving
at the bottom.
Working of cooling tower

Air enters at the bottom of the tower and flows upward through the
descending water. The tower packing often consists of slats of plastic or
of packed bed. The water is distributed by troughs and overflows to
cascade over slat gratings or packing that provides large interfacial areas
of contact between the water and air in the form of droplets and films
of water. The flow of air upward through the tower can be induced by
the buoyancy of the warm air in the tower (natural draft) or by the
action of a fan. The water cannot be cooled below the wet bulb
temperature. The driving force for the evaporation of the water is
approximately the vapor pressure of the water less the vapor pressure it
would have at the wet bulb temperature.
What Does A Cooling Tower Do?

 Cooling Towers are used to

transfer heat from cooling water
to the atmosphere. – Promotes
efficient water usage – Prevents
environmental damage
Where cooling tower used?

 Used in power stations, oil refineries, petrochemical

plants and natural gas plants. Cooling water is
continuously circulated through heat exchangers to absorb
heat from process material and machinery. Because it's
cost efficient to reuse water and plants can't dump
excessive amounts of hot water into rivers and lakes,
cooling towers are used to remove the heat from the
water, so it can be recirculated.
How Does It Work?
Factors affecting Cooling tower
performance
 Function: Heat exchange between air and water is
influenced by surface area of heat exchange, time of heat
exchange and turbulence in water effecting thoroughness
of intermixing.
 Due to fewer requirements of air and pumping head, there
is a tremendous saving in power with the intervention of
film fill.
 Recently, low clog film fills with higher flute sizes have
been developed to handle high turbid waters. (sea water)
Performance
 Range
 Approach
 Effectiveness
 Cooling capacity
 Evaporation loss
 Cycles of concentration
 Blow down losses
 Liquid / Gas ratio
Types of cooling tower
 Forced Draft Cooling Towers
 Induced Draft Counter Flow CT
 Induced Draft Cross Flow CT
Forced Draft Cooling Towers
 Air blown through tower by
centrifugal fan at air inlet
 Advantages: suited for high air
resistance & fans are relatively quiet
 Disadvantages: recirculation due to
high air-entry and low air-exit
velocities
Induced Draft Counter Flow CT
 Hot water enters at the top
 Air enters at bottom and exits at top
 Uses forced and induced draft fans
Induced Draft Cross Flow CT
 Water enters top and passes over fill
 Air enters on one side or opposite sides
 Induced draft fan draws air across fill