Water Coolers
Water is one of the most needed things for a person. In summer season cold water
gives life to a thirsty person. At 10°C water is most refreshing. Thus, cooling of water
in summer season becomes necessary. Water coolers are used to produce cold water
at about 7 to 13°C. The temperature of water is controlled with the help of a thermostat
switch.
Water coolers may be classified as follows:
1. Instantaneous Type Water Coolers
a. Bottle type water cooler,
b. Pressure type water cooler,
c. Self-contained or remote type water cooler.
2. Storage Type Water Coolers
Instantaneous Type Water Coolers:
In this type of coolers, the cooling coil is wrapped round the pipeline such that by the
time water reaches the tank it is cooled to desired temperature. Various types of
instantaneous type water coolers are described below.
1. Bottle Type Water Cooler: In this type of water cooler, water to be cooled is stored
in a bottle or reservoir. For filling, glass tumblers or containers, faucet or similar means
are provided. The dripping water from the faucet is collected in the waste water basin
or water drip, as illustrated in figure. The usual size is 25 litres and is suitable for places
where plumbing installation is expensive and drains are available.
2. Pressure Type Water Cooler: In this type of cooler shown in figure, water is
supplied under pressure. A valve is employed to control an appropriate flow of water
or projected stream of water from a bubbler. An arrangement should be made to collect
water and allow complete collection of water spreading from the bubbler. The
temperature of waste water is low, it is used for cooling the supply water by passing
through a pipe coil wrapped round the drainage line. By doing so, the cooling load for
cooler is reduced. Since the water is supplied under pressure the cold water can be
obtained from the top mounted at any height of the cooler. The refrigeration system is
usually mounted at the bottom structure of the cooler body and a cooling coil is
wrapped round the water tank. To ensure good surface contact between the
evaporative tube and tank, either the tank surface is corrugated to accommodate pipe
or pipes are secured using soft solder to provide metal contact. Sometimes a helical
or U-type coil is immersed in the water tank. Although such as arrangement provides
high heat transfer from water to the coil but formation of undesirable salt due to
chemical reaction between water contaminant and the copper surface proves to be a
great drawback in this system.
3. Self-Contained or Remote Type Water Cooler: This type of cooler employs
mechanical refrigeration system and is a factory assembled unit. A remote type water
cooler cools the water which is supplied to the desired drinking place (away from the
system). It is quite a useful unit as it does not need extra space near the place of work.
Storage Type Water Cooler:
Such type of water coolers is used where continuous supply of water is not available.
Figure shows a schematic storage type water cooler. Here water is filled in the storage
tank and level of water is kept the same using a float valve. The storage tank is
surrounded by an evaporator coil through which flows a low-pressure liquid refrigerant
which takes away the heat of water and thus makes it cold. When the water attains
the desired temperature the ther-mostat operates and disconnects the power supply
to the motor. The motor employed is capacitor-start capacitor-run single phase
induction motor.
Capacity of Water Coolers:
For determination of cooling load for the water cooler (Q) the following relation may be
used
𝑸 = 𝒎𝒘 × 𝑪𝒑 (𝑻𝒊 − 𝑻𝒐 )
where mw is rate of water consumption in kg, Cp is the specific heat of water in kJ/kg/K,
Ti is the temperature of inlet water and To is the temperature of outlet water.
