Humidification and Cooling Tower

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 Humidification and Dehumidification

Humidification operations: The process in which the

moisture or water vapor or humidity is added to the air
without changing its dry bulb temperature is called as
humidification process. In this operation, water transfers from
liquid phase to gas phase. Hence, moisture content of air
increases.

Dehumidification operations: It is the reverse phenomena

of humidification. A portion of water vapor from moist warm
air is condensed by contacting cold water in air conditioning.
 Cooling tower Principle
• Cooling towers are a special type of heat exchanger that
allows water and air to come in contact with each other to
lower the temperature of the hot water.

• It provides a very good contact of air and water in terms of

the contact area and mass transfer co-efficient of water
vapor while keeping air pressure drop low.

• Enthalpy of air is lower than enthalpy of water. Sensible

heat and latent heat transfer take place from water drop to
surrounding air.
 Spray Ponds
• In a spray pond, as the name implies, a spray system located about six to eight feet above the
water surface creates small droplets of warm water that cool down by evaporation in contact
with air.

• This is a simple and easy process but requires a large pond area. It is inefficient (the effective
heat transfer coefficient is about 3.5 Btu/h◊ft2◊°F or 20 W/m2◊K), and creates the problem
of entrainment and carryover of water droplets by air.
 Factors govern the operation of cooling tower

• The dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures of the air

• The temperature of warm water
• The efficiency of contact between air and water
in terms of the volumetric mass transfer coefficient
and the contact time between the air and the
water
• The uniformity of distribution of the phases
within the tower
• The air pressure drop is low
• The desired temperature of the cooled water
Types of Cooling Tower
Atmospheric cooling
Atmospheric Cooling Tower
Tower
Natural Draft cooling Tower
Natural Draft Cooling Tower
 Mechanical Draft cooling Tower
Fans are used to move air through the tower in
mechanical draft cooling towers.

Forced draft towers: It has one or more fans located

at the tower bottom to push air into tower. This is
why it is called forced draft. The air flows counter
current to water.

Induced draft towers: One or more fans are installed

at the top of the tower. Depending on the air inlet
and flow pattern, induced draft towers are of two
types, cross-flow and counter flow towers.
Forced Draft cooling Tower
Advantages:
• A part of the velocity head of air thrown
by the blower is converted to pressure
head on entering into the tower.
• It makes energy efficient than induced
draft.
• Less susceptible to vibrations as fans are
installed near the ground.
Disadvantages:
• Air flow through the packing may not be
uniform
• Some of the warm and humid air may be
recirculated back.
• Recirculation rate becomes low if the
wind velocity is high.
• It is not popular except for small
capacities.
Induced Draft Counter Current cooling Tower
Advantages:
• Relatively dry air contacts the
coldest water at the bottom of
the cooling tower
• Humid air is in contact with the
warm water and hence maximum
average driving force prevails for
both heat and mass transfer.
Disadvantage :
• It is compared to forced draft
towers It consumes more horse
power.
• Cross-flow induced draft cooling
tower requires less motor horse
power than countercurrent
induced draft cooling towers.
 Induced Draft Cross Current cooling Tower
Cross-flow induced draft cooling tower supplies horizontal air flow along the
packed height. and For same air flow rate is requires less motor horse power
than the counter-flow type. Additional ‘cells’ may be added to raise the
capacity.
 Structural components & material of construction
(i)The shell or the framework and casing wall:
Natural draft- hyperbolic reinforced concrete shell
Forced draft – rectangular concrete or wood which
enclosed by a casing wall.
Different type of material are used in past for
casing wall are-
Treated wood by chromate copper arsenate or acid
copper chromate, Polyvinyl chloride, cement
asbestos board.
Presently “glass-fiber reinforced polyester” is used.
 Structural components & material of construction
• (ii)The tower fill – It is the single most important
component of a cooling tower. A good fill should
promote a high contact surface and contact time
between air and water while imposing little
resistance and pressure drop on the air flow.
The fills are broadly of two types:
(a) splash-type fill (b) film-type fill
 (a) Splash-type fill
This type of fill consists of staggered rows of ‘splash bars’.
Wood battens or slats of suitable size (0.5–1’’≤ thick, 3–4’’≤
wide, and 4–6’’ long) were the only material used over the
decades.
 (b) Film-type fill
The film-type fill (also called film-pack), which is similar to
the structured packing. PVC is the most widely used
material for packing. The warm water spreads into thin
films flowing along the fill surface.
 Structural components & material of construction
(iii) Louvers:
• Louvers are inclined blade or passage type assemblies fitted at
the air inlet wall of a cooling tower to promote uniform air
entry into the tower while preventing water splash out.
• The most important louver materials are corrugated fire-
retardant fibre-reinforced polyester and treated wood.

(iv) Drift eliminator: Water droplets carried over by the outgoing

air are collectively called drift. It is like entrainment of liquid in
the gas in a conventional packed tower. Drift causes loss of
cooling water. A drift eliminator arrests the floating water
droplets by impaction as the air passes through it. A few layers
of slats placed in the frame above the water distributor may act
as the drift eliminator.
 Structural components & material of construction
(V) Fan: Cooling tower fans should deliver large volumes of air
efficiently. The fan blades should be properly balanced to
minimize vibration. The fan diameter ranges from less than a
metre to as large as 10 metre. The fan rpm ranges are 150-400.
The tip speed of the fan blade is 4000 m/min.