BY RATHISH K

COOLING TOWERS
What is a cooling tower ? Why cooling towers are used ? Where it is used ? How it works ? What are the different types available ? How to size a cooling tower ? How to select a cooling tower ? What about the cooling tower piping ? Where to place a cooling tower ? Why water treatment is required ? What are the relevant codes ?

What is a cooling tower ?

Cooling towers are heat exchangers that are used to dissipate large heat loads to the atmosphere.

Why cooling towers should be used ??

Water is the most efficient way of dissipating unwanted heat. The most commercial buildings and industries use water to cool their HVAC and process machinery. A cooling tower is the most important piece of equipment in any industry whose primary purpose is to remove heat while minimizing water usage. The amount of water consumed for cooling varies with the type of cooling system employed. Once Through System The cooling water passes through the heat exchange equipment only once. Water is simply drawn from estuary, lake or river to the process equipment / heat exchange equipment and discharged back to river. This system is used where large volume of cooling water is required and where the water is available in abundance. What if abundant water is not available ???

There are many options available.. Dry cooling towers Wet cooling towers Hybrid wet-dry cooling towers

Dry towers or closed re-circulation system use the same cooling water

repeatedly in a continuous cycle. No direct contact of water with air. Consumes little water but very costly to construct since mass flow rates associated a quite high.

Wet towers provide direct contact between the cooling water and air
passing through the tower. These towers rely on the latent heat of evaporation to exchange heat between the process and the air passing through the tower.

cooling tower fan stack to eliminate any visible plume.

Hybrid towers add heat to the airflow prior to discharge through the

Schematic of a dry cooling tower

Wet cooling tower

Site: Vikram Ispat Mumbai.

Schematic of Hybrid Wet-Dry Cooling tower

Kakkonda Geothermal power plant 30 Mw Tohoku Electric, Toshiba Engineering and Construction Co.

Where we need cooling towers ?

Essential equipment in almost all the process industries, fertilizer complexes, petrochemical industries and air conditioning systems apart from our dear power plants

The figure provides a schematic arrangement of a cooling application in a process industry where plant heat exchangers (HE) are cooled with water. The pump keeps the water re-circulation through heat exchangers where it picks up heat and distributes on to the cooling tower. The heat is released from water through evaporation. The cold water enters the HE for cooling. The resulting hot water from HE is sent back to cooling tower.The make-up water source is used to replenish around 2% of water lost to evaporation and drift.

How a cooling tower works ?

All cooling towers work on the same principle of evaporation as the main mode of heat transfer An amount of heat is also removed by sensible heat transfer The hot water enters the tower at the top and is distributed within the structure in a manner that exposes a very large water surface to the air passing through. Water distribution is obtained by means of spray nozzles or distribution pans and by means of various types of fill media. A cooling tower accomplishes the passage of air across the mesh to have direct contact with the falling water so that some of the water evaporates, this eventually cools the stream of water Some of the water is lost due to evaporation; the water is constantly added to cooling tower basin to make up the difference. Each pound of water evaporated, removes approx. 1000 BTU of heat from the water and thereby lowers its temp. Evaporation occurs when the WBT of air is lower than the DBT of air.

 WBT-Wet bulb temperature is a measure of relative humidity.Closer its towards DBT-Dry bulb temperature higher the relative humidity WBT is measured using sling psychrometer which is nothing but a thermometer having wet cloth wrapping its bulb. WBT=DBT corresponds to 100% relative humidity that implies the air is fully saturated.That means air cant accept any moisture afterwards or wont support evaporation. The sensible heat transfer occurs when DBT of air is less than the DBT of water. 80% of cooling tower is through evaporation and the balance is through the sensible cooling.

Cooling tower Performance Equations and relevant terms associated with cooling towers
The total heat balance between air and water,expressed as a differential equation Gdh=Ldt + GdH(t2-32) (1) Where G=Mass flow of air through the tower- lb/min dh=Change in enthalpy of the air-Btu/lb L= Mass flow rate of water entering the tower-lb/min dt=Change in temperature of the water dH=Change in humidity ratio of the air lb vapour/lb dry air t2= Cold water temperature leaving the tower oF t2-32 = Expression of water enthalpy at cold water temperature-Btu/lb

The expression Ldt in equation (1) represents the heat load imposed on the tower Heat load = gpm x R x 8 1/3 Btu/min where gpm = water flow rate gal/min R = Difference between hot and cold water temperatures deg.F 8 1/3 = Pounds per gallon of water Another important term associated with cooling towers is approach so where does approach come into picture ??? The approach dictates the theoretical limit to the leaving cold water temperature and is a function of ambient wet bulb temperature. How ?? The approach is the difference between the cold water temperature and ambient wet bulb temperature.

No matter the size of the cooling tower, range or heat load, it is not possible to cool the water below the wet bulb temperature of air with evaporative air cooling.

Design wet bulb temperature (DWBT)

A single wet bulb reading will allow a prediction of cooling tower performance at that condition but the wet bulb changes through out the day and year. Typically a WBT that doesnt exceed 5% of the total hours in a year is the design wet bulb temp. Now some lighter stuff.

What are different types of cooling towers??

Natural Draft Mechanical Draft

Cross flow

Counter flow

Natural Draft Cooling Towers Characteristic hyperbolical shape.

Operates on a chimney principle that allows the air movement on density differential. No fans,motors,gear boxes etc & tall stack insures against recirculation of air. Generally used for flow rates > 2 lakh gallon/min

Mechanical Draft Cooling towers

Large fans to force air through the circulating water The water falls downwards over fill surfaces which help to increase the contact time between water and air

Types of Mechanical Draft Towers

Counter Flow Cross Flow Induced Draft Forced Draft

Cross Flow Cooling Tower In Cross-Flow towers, air moves horizontally through the fill across the downward fall of water.

Counter Flow Cooling Towers

Here air moves Vertically upward through the fill,counter to the downward fall of water. Water is distributed across the fill using a system of headers, feed pipes and sprays.

Comparative Analysis (Counter-flow v/s Cross-flow)

The analysis is made on the following distinctive parameters(selected) 1. Space and size Constraints Counter flow towers tend to be compact section of water just before it falls into the basin 2. Operating weight Counter flow towers offer low operating weight 3. Operating costs Counter flow tower require increased fan horse power resulting from airflow in direct opposition to water flow.Hence operating costs are Higher. 4. Limitations Counter flow tower require airflow on all sides for optimum performance. 5. Initial Cost Counter flow towers are typically expensive.

Cooling Tower Capacities & Availability

Packaged Cooling Towers Packaged towers are the one where the first or essentially all assembly is done at the manufactures plant.These kind of towers are available in sizes up to 10000 gpm. Field erected Cooling Towers As name suggests they are either assembled or erected at site.These towers can handle flow rates from 10000 to 35000gpm Many a times, towers are constructed so that they can be ganged together to achieve desired capacity.2 or more tower ganged together constitute a cell.Towers are referred by the number of cells an assembly have i.e. a five cell cooling tower.

Cooling tower materials

Lumber
Redwood is the most preferred construction material for cooling towers because of its natural non-decay characteristics.Douglas Fir is the second preferred choice.All wood used in a cooling tower need a pre-preservative treatment to prevent decay.

Galvanised steel
This material find useful for packaged cooling towers. G-235 is a material which is widely used for the construction of such towers. Durability / lifespan is the mantra of these towers.

Stainless steel
SS-type 304 is recommended for cooling towers that are to be used in a highly corrosive duty

Concrete
Larger towers are generally made of concrete.For natural draft cooling towers its more or less a default material.

Fibre-Reinforced Plastic (FRP)

Fibreglass has been used in cooling tower piping, fan stacks and siding for many years with great success due to its low maintenance requirements, resistance to moisture, and material properties that allow a range of water temperatures and pH. Now lets peep into the cooling tower..

What are the components that keep it going ?

Wet Deck or Fill Its the heart of a cooling tower.its function is to maximize water and air contact. Fills can be either splash or film type. With splash fill,water falls over successive layers of horizontal splash bars,continuously breaking into smaller droplets thus wetting the fill surface(cross flow fills) Film fill consists of thin,closely spaced plastic surfaces over which the water spreads,forming a thin film in contact with the air.These surfaces may be flat, corrugated, honeycombed or other patterns.(counter flow fills)

Splash fills.

Film flow fins

Drift eliminators
Eliminators are used to capture water droplets entrapped in the air discharging from the cooling tower.

Spray Tree
Its function is to distribute water over the wet deck fill.Nozzles mounted on the spray tree provide the water sprays to wet the fill.Uniform water distribution at the top of the fill is essential to achieve proper wetting of the entire fill surface.

Cold water basins

Its function is to collect cooled water at the bottom of the tower.They are an integral part of factory-assembled designs and are built in place-typically of concrete-for field erected towers.The cold-water basin located at or near the bottom of the tower.

Air inlet screens

Its the point of entry for air entering a tower.The inlet may take up an entire side of a tower(cross flow design) or be located low on the side or the bottom(counter flow designs).

Ladders and handrails

They are necessary for large field erected cooling towers and make sense on some factory assembled designs.

Fans
They provide the airflow for mechanical draft cooling towers.Generally propeller fans are used on induced draft towers.Both propeller and centrifugal fans are found on forced draft models.Automatic pitch blades can vary airflow in response to changing load conditions.

How can we size the cooling tower ?

The heat load, range, approach, and WBT affect the cooling tower size.We shall see when 3 of these 4 quantities are held constant, tower size varies as follows.

Heat Load
Tower size varies directly and linearly with heat load, which is evident from the head load equation. Since the tower has to handle large flow rates its size will naturally increase.

Range

Tower size varies inversely with range. Two Primary factors account for this. First increasing the range keeping the approach constant will result in the increase of the driving force. i.e the difference between the incoming hot water temperature and the entering wet bulb temperature.Second increasing the range at a constant heat load requires the water flow rate to be decreased.

Approach

Tower size varies inversely with the approach.As the selected approach is reduced,tower size increases exponentially. For that reason,it is not customary in the industry to guarantee any approach of less than 5 deg F. Tower size varies inversely with wet-bulb temperature.When heat load,range and approach values are fixed,reducing the design WBT increases the size of the tower.The is because most of the heat transfer occurs by evaporation and airs ability to absorb moisture reduces with temperature

Wet bulb temperature

Graphs Courtesy:Marley Cooling technologies,Inc

What affects cooling tower selection ?

To select a cooling tower, the water flow rate, water inlet temperature, water outlet temperature and ambient wet bulb temperatures must be known. When selecting the cooling tower,one must determine the design heat rejection load along with the design WBT for the geographical area and desired range.Water flow is determined by the heat load and range. Tower Manufacturers provide performance curves or computer simulations to predict the tower performance over the expected operating range. Many choices and decisions along with good engineering judgement is required to properly select a tower.

How to prepare a cooling tower specification ?

Be sure your specification to cooling tower manufacturers stipulates at least the following. Flow rate (gal/min) Total heat rejection (Btu/hr) Cold water temperature (deg F) Hot water temperature (deg F) Design wet bulb temperature (deg F) Elevation above sea level (ft) Tower type (Cross flow or Counter flow) Materials of Construction Fill media choice Water Quality Noise limitations Permissible Drift loss Scope Demarcation (Who is responsible for basin, external piping, electrical hook up etc ?) Economic considerations

What about cooling tower performance & operating efficiency ?

These to a large extent is dependant on controls. Automatic Controls are provided for controlling the leaving CWT,Chemical feed rate to maintain water chemistry,Blow-down etc. When wooden cooling towers are used automatic fire suppression systems as per NFPA 214 is required. CWT leaving a tower falls As the WBT drops During lean load periods in process During winter Some processes can be adversely affected if cooling water supply gets too cold. The capacity control / temperature control is best achieved by air flow modulation. Achieved by varying fan speeds. Freezing conditions are tackled by cold insulation and heat tracings.

What about CT piping & installation considerations ?

Piping between the cooling tower basin and the pump is most critical. Factory Strainers are typically provided inside the cooling tower, still a large, low restriction inline strainer should be installed in the suction piping. Suction lines should be short in length & velocities should be between 7-10 ft/sec. Discharge piping is less critical but like all piping it should be installed as symmetrically as possible on multi cell installations to provide a naturally balanced flow through out the system Cooling towers utilizing multiple inlet gravity water distribution systems must have flow control valves to allow field adjustment. Systems with spray nozzles, on the other hand, display a natural tendency to balance and dont require any flow control valves. Equalizer lines are provided by connecting the sumps together to combat any imbalances and hence to keep sump levels nearly equal through out the cells. Never mix blow-through and draw-through tower in the same cell.

 As a rule of thumb avoid mixing tower types wherever possible. When the inlet flow rate to a cooling tower becomes too low, it is appropriate to shut off selected cells in order to force more water into others. Sizing the make-up line is relatively easy. Calculate the evaporation rate, double it as a generous allowance for bleed and select the line for about 7 ft/sec.

Pressurised distribution system and nozzles

Gravity water distribution system

Suction strainers

Mechanical float valve

Ice affected fills

What are the layout considerations ?

Tower location is critical to take advantage of prevailing winds and avoid air bypass conditions that will penalize tower performance and increase energy use.Obstructions to air flow can cause two problems Recirculation is a phenomenon where the moist discharge air is somehow redirected back into the air inlet.The increased moisture content in the air inhibits evaporation and reduces cooling capacity. Starving the tower for air.Reduced air flow inhibits the towers ability to evaporate water. Cooling tower location should be away from process area,preferably downstream

direction of wind so that the water vapour and air emission doesnt affect the metallic structures of the plant.

be oriented crosswise (at 90 deg) to the prevailing wind, to lessen the possibility of recirculation

if more than one cooling tower is involved,they should if possible

Why cooling water treatment is required ?

Open recirculating cooling systems are subjected to a variety of problems. Evaporation increases dissolved solids concentration and subsequent corrosion and deposition tendencies Higher temperatures increase corrosion potential Longer retention time and warmer water increase the potential for microbial growth Water treatment is provided to keep the water quality sufficient to prevent scaling, corrosion and biological fouling that can affect normal productive operations COC-cycle of concentration is an important term used in CT operation. It is defined as a factor of level of impurities in the cooling water with respect to its corresponding level in the make up water. The total dissolved solids (TDS) of the circulating water is not allowed exceeding 2500 ppm. So that the corrosion and scaling problems are kept under control. Let the TDS of makeup water be 800 ppm.

Then the system is not allowed to operate more than 2500/800=3.1 cycles of operation. It will be of use to examine the water balance of the system Make up water (M)=water lost { through evaporation(V) + bleed(B) + drift (D) } Ignoring drift losses, We have M=V+B In order to keep off from making scale, all of the solids that enter as make-up must exit as bleed Therefore M=cycles x B So we get bleed B =V/(cycles-1) As a piping person these information will help us to perform makeup water line sizing/bleed line sizing.Here in IDEA we will get these information from PPE dept.

What are the relevant codes/standards that I should refer ?

C T I Cooling Tower Institute is NPO comprised of cooling tower users,manufacturers and related service providers.Its best known for its test specifications. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air conditioning Engineers,ASHRAE publications provide most of the weather data,the design wet bulb temperature. Within the industry, standards for cooling towers are set up by C T I When a tower is specified as a C T I code tower, the following standards become the part of the specification(if applicable) STD-103 Red wood lumber specification ATC-105 Acceptance Test code STD-111 Gear speed reducers STD-201 Certification Standard for commercial water cooling towers

The advanced simulation and computing (ASC) program Terascale simulation facility (TSF) is being constructed to provide power and space to accommodate 2 simultaneous 100 terraOps class computer systems.TSF is the home for next generation supercomputers. Simulation is a cornerstone of NNSA(National Nuclear Security Administration) stockpile stewardship program to ensure the safety & reliabilty of US nuclear weapons without testing.

Excavation for Cooling Tower area

Cooling tower piping initial stages

Under Ground piping for Cooling Towers Dec 2002

Another view of underground piping for cooling towers

Forms and rebar for the base of the cooling towers

Installing rebar and forms for the basins of the cooling towers

Basins of a cooling tower

Concrete cooling tower basin with piping

Cooling water pipes installed in a trench

Construction of cooling tower begins

cooling tower takes shape

Additional progress

Here it is

Cooling tower installation almost complete

A large fan on the top of the cooling tower

Fan shroud

Piping and pumps are installed on cooling towers

Pumps and piping for cooling tower