University of Zakho

College of engineering
Mechanical department

Experiment No (5)
Study the Effect of Air Flowrate on the
Cooling Tower Performance

Name: Sarkaft Muhager Samad

Stage: 4th

Group: B

Date: 13/12/2020

Dec-2020
Introduction:
The cooling tower is one of the most important devices in industrial applications
and it is used to cool the warm water coming from the heat exchanger (condenser)
in the thermal power plant by contacting unsaturated air.
In a typical water cooling tower, warm water flows counter current to an air
stream. Typically, the warm water enters the top of the packed tower and cascades
down through the packing, and leaving at the bottom.
Air enters at the bottom of the tower and flows upward through the descending
water. The tower packing consists of a plastic or packed bed. The water is
distributed by troughs and overflows to cascade over 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 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. (See Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Steam Power Plant with Cooling Tower

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PURPOSE:
To study the effect of air velocity on the Approach to Wet Bulb, cooling range, and
efficiency for cooling tower.

APPARATUS:
The apparatus consists of the following components and instruments (Figure 1):-Air
distribution chamber.
1. Air distribution chamber.
2. A tank with heaters to simulate cooling loads of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 kW.
3. A make-up tank.
4. A centrifugal fan with intake damper.
5. Pump.
6. A water collecting basin.
7. An electrical control panel.
8. Packed column.
9. Column cap.
10. Temperature indicator.
11. Inclined tube manometer.
12. Variable area flow meter.

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 Fig. 2: Cooling Tower Apparatus

THEORY:-
Approach to wet bulb: The difference between the temperature of the water
leaving the tower and the wet-bulb temperature of the air entering.
Cooling Range: The difference between the water temperature at the entry to and
exit from the tower.
𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 (𝐓𝟓−𝐓𝟔)
Cooling Tower 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 % = ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎 = (𝐓𝟓−𝐓𝟐) ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎
(𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞+𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡)

Air volume flow rate(v̇ ) = mȧ . vB = 𝑚̇𝑎 (1 + 𝜔𝐵 )v𝑎𝐵

v̇
Air velocity = (m/s )
A
Dimensions of the cooling tower column: 150mm*150mm*600mm high
Cross section area of empty tower (A) = 0.15*0.15= 0.0225 m2

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Experimental Procedure:
1- Fill water in the make-up tank, the level of the water should always be greater
than the mark of minimum level on the load tank.
2- Fill water at two positions of the wet-bulb temperature (inlet and outlet air
positions).
3- Switch on the experiment.
4- Keeping water flow rate and cooling load constant during the test, (water flow
rate 40 g/sec. and cooling load 1kw).
5- Open the cover of the air intake damper to set the flow of air rate such that the
pressure drop through the tower is (10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 25mm) H2O and
take the reading of all temperatures at a steady state.
6- Calculate the mass flow rate of air and its velocity of each condition.
7- Calculate the efficiency of the cooling tower of each condition.

Test No. 1 2 3 4
Cooling Load, kW 1 1 1 1
Water Flow Rate g/sec. 40 40 40 40
Orifice Differential (x) mm H2O 10 15 20 25
Air Inlet Dry Bulb Temp. T1,°C 19.4 19.3 19 18.9
Air Inlet Wet Bulb Temp. T2,°C 14.1 14.3 14.1 13.7
Air Outlet Dry Bulb Temp. T3,°C 22.7 22.2 22 21.8

Air Outlet Wet Bulb Temp. T4,°C 21.9 21.8 21.2 19.6

Water Inlet Temp. T5,°C 27.4 27 26.2 25

Water Outlet Temp. T6,°C 21.9 20.2 19.2 17.9

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Calculation:
𝑇1 = 19.4℃ 𝑇2 = 14.1 ℃ 𝑇3 = 22.7 ℃ 𝑇4 = 21.9℃ 𝑇5 = 27.4 ℃ 𝑇6 = 21.9 ℃
Dimensions of the cooling tower column: 150𝑚𝑚 × 150𝑚𝑚 × 600𝑚𝑚 high
𝐴 = 0.15 × 0.15 = 0.0225 𝑚2

At 𝑻𝟑 = 𝑻𝒅𝒓𝒚,𝑶𝒖𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒕 = 𝟐𝟐, 𝟕℃ 𝑻𝟒 = 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒕,𝑶𝒖𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒕 = 𝟐𝟏. 𝟗℃ :

𝒘𝑩 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟔𝟐𝒌𝒈𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 /𝒌𝒈𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝑽𝒂𝑩 = 𝟎. 𝟖𝟔 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒌𝒈

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Calculate Dry air mass flow rate (𝒎̇𝒂 ):

𝒙 𝒙
𝒎̇𝒂 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟑𝟕√ = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟑𝟕√
𝑽𝑩 𝑽𝒂𝑩 (𝟏 + 𝒘𝑩 )

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𝑚̇𝑎 = 0.0137√
0.86 × (1 + 0.0162)
𝒎̇𝒂 = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟔𝟑𝟒 𝒌𝒈⁄𝒔

Calculate Air volume flow rate(𝐯̇ ):

𝒗̇ = 𝒎𝒂̇ . 𝒗𝑩 = 𝒎̇𝒂 (𝟏 + 𝝎𝑩 )𝒗𝒂𝑩
𝑣̇ = (0.04634)(1 + 0.0162)(0.86)
𝒗̇ = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟒𝟎𝟓 𝒎𝟑 ⁄𝒔

Calculate Air velocity:

𝒗̇
𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝑨
0.0405
𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 =
0.0225
𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 = 𝟏. 𝟖 𝒎/𝒔

Calculate the approach to wet bulb:

𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = (𝑇6 − 𝑇2)
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = (21.9 − 14.1)
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = 7.8℃

Calculate the cooling range:

𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = (𝑇5 − 𝑇6)
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = (27.4 − 21.9)
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = 5.5 ℃

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Calculate the efficiency of the cooling tower:
𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆
𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚% = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
(𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 + 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉)
𝑇5 − 𝑇6
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 % = × 100%
𝑇5 − 𝑇2
27.4 − 21.9
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 % = × 100%
27.4 − 14.1
𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 % = 41.353%

Test No. 1 2 3 4
Humidity ratio 𝑘𝑔𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 /𝑘𝑔𝐴𝑖𝑟 0.0162 0.0165 0.0156 0.0134
Specific volume 𝑚3⁄𝑘𝑔 0.86 0.858 0.857 0.854
Dry air mass flow rate 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠 0.04634 0.05681 0.06567 0.07363
Air volume flow rate 𝑚3⁄𝑠 0.0405 0.0495 0.0571 0.06372
Air velocity 𝑚⁄𝑠 1.8 2.2 2.54 2.83
Approach to wet bulb ℃ 7.8 5.9 5.1 4.2
Cooling range ℃ 5.5 6.8 7 7.1
Cooling Tower Efficiency % 41.35 53.54 57.85 62.83

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Discussions:
1. Make a chart between all temperatures in the tower with the velocities of
air, and discuss the results.
Test No. 1 2 3 4
Air velocity m⁄s 1.8 2.2 2.54 2.83
Air Inlet Dry Bulb Temp. T1,°C 19.4 19.3 19 18.9
Air Inlet Wet Bulb Temp. T2,°C 14.1 14.3 14.1 13.7
Air Outlet Dry Bulb Temp. T3,°C 22.7 22.2 22 21.8
Air Outlet Wet Bulb Temp. T4,°C 21.9 21.8 21.2 19.6
Water Inlet Temp. T5,°C 27.4 27 26.2 25
Water Outlet Temp. T6,°C 21.9 20.2 19.2 17.9

chart between temperatures & velocities of air

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2.9
2.8
2.7
2.6
Air velocity (m/s)

2.5 T1
2.4 T2
T3
2.3
T4
2.2
T5
2.1 T6
2
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Temperature (℃)
In our results as we seen velocity increased and temperature decreased. So in
chart, when increase air velocity the temperature will decrease. It means
relation between temperature and air velocity is inversely. Velocity increase
when volume flow rate increase.

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2. Make a chart between the approaches and the velocities of air, and discuss
the results.
Test No. 1 2 3 4

Air velocity 𝑚⁄𝑠 1.8 2.2 2.54 2.83

Approach to wet bulb ℃ 7.8 5.9 5.1 4.2

chart between the approaches & velocities of air

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8
Approach to wet bulb ℃

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1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9
Air velocity (m/s)

As we seen in our results air velocity increased and approach to wet bulb
decreased. As shown in chart, when air velocity increase the approach to wet
bulb decrease, because temperature decrease and it well decrease approach to
wet bulb. The relation between air velocity and approach to wet bulb inversely.

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3. Make a chart between the cooling ranges with the velocities of air in a
chart, and discuss the results.

Test No. 1 2 3 4
Air velocity 𝑚⁄𝑠 1.8 2.2 2.54 2.83
Cooling range ℃ 5.5 6.8 7 7.1

chart between the cooling ranges & velocities of air

7.5

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Cooling range ℃

6.5

5.5

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1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9
Air velocity m/s

As we seen in our results air velocity increased and cooling range also increased.
As shown in chart, when air velocity increasing the cooling range also increasing,
relation between air velocities and cooling range directly.

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4. Make a chart between the efficiencies of the cooling tower with air
velocities, and discuss the results.
Test No. 1 2 3 4
Air velocity 𝑚⁄𝑠 1.8 2.2 2.54 2.83
Cooling Tower Efficiency % 41.35 53.54 57.85 62.83

chart between the efficiencies of the cooling

tower with air velocities
65

60
Cooling Tower Efficiency %

55

50

45

40
1.5 1.7 1.9 2.1 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.9
Air velocity m/s

As we seen in our results air velocity increased and cooling tower efficiency
also increased. As shown in chart, when air velocities increasing the cooling
tower efficiency also increasing, relation between air velocities and cooling
tower efficiency directly.

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5. What do you think if we increase the flow rate of air more?
As the air flow rate increases, temperature & approach to wet bulb decreases,
air velocities increases, and the cooling water range are increases therefore,
cooling capacity increased and the Cooling Tower Efficiency will increase.
The air flow rate increases, evaporated water per unit of air increases too. So, if
more air flow rate increases, the rate of evaporation water will be more and
maybe all water will evaporate.

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