Cooling Towers - the Industrial Workhorses
Industrial Processes usually produces a lot of heat.
Air-conditioning also removes heat from the indoor areas through
heat exchangers.
Where does all the heat go?
All these heat has to be removed. If you are not near the sea,
you have to use cooling towers to cool down your warm water.
Cooling towers make use of air currents to cool warm water.
However, a basic rule has to be made when you want to extract
heat from any object, including water. Heat has to be taken from
a higher temperature source to a lower temperature medium.
If the air is already warm, it will not be able to cool down the
warm water. The temperature difference is very important.
Another important point in cooling tower efficiency is how much
the water is exposed to the air. If the water is allowed to
trickle down, and their contact surface with the air is made
large, more heat exchange takes place.
Plastic diffusers designed with wavy patterns are inserted at
cooling towers to increase the contact surfaces of the water
when it meets with the cooling air stream.
There are several shapes of cooling towers, but they operate on
the same principle.
There are basically 2 types airflow patterns in cooling towers:
The cross-flow type of cooling tower makes use of air flowing at
right angles to the water dropping down. The fans are positioned
so that the air stream flows through the cooling tower from the
sides. Water is distributed at the top, and is allowed to drip
down to meet with the air.
The characteristic shape of these cooling towers is usually
rectangular shape. Depending on the design, there may be several
small fans installed at the top of the cooling tower. However,
the fan(s) may also be located at the sides of the cooling tower
and the air may be ducted.
The counter-flow type of cooling tower makes use of air flowing
in the opposite direction and against the flow of the water. In
one design, water flows out through rotating spreader arms to
distribute the water and let it drop through the plastic
diffusers evenly.
In this design, the shape of the cooling tower is a bottle
shape. It is fitted with one single large fan to suck the air to
create the airflow. The diameter of the area where the heat
exchange takes place is made larger so that more contact
surfaces is exposed. The fan is heavy and huge. Its speed is
usually made lower than that of the motor by the use of
reduction gears.
There may be a few designs. Some use fans located at the bottom,
some have fans at the top, some have large fans, some make use
of several small fans.
The materials used in cooling towers have to be selected to be
able to withstand ultraviolet ray exposure from the sun,
moisture and other outdoor weather effects.
Cooling towers are truly rugged workhorses of industry.
Folks, be cool!
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