Cooling Towers Types and Terms
Cooling Tower Types
- have
quite an attractive appearance, but are usually more expensive than
other cooling towers.
- are cooling towers in which the air
and cooled water or other fluid do not have direct contact.
- determines
cost, performance, and efficiency.
- are
companies that make units that cool fluids.
- contain opposing air and water flows.
The airflow moves up and the water flow moves downward.
- contain perpendicular air and water flows.
The airflow is horizontal, and the water flows vertically downward.
- are used in drinking water and wastewater
treatment facilities to assist in the elimination of bacteria,
chemicals and other impurities in the water.
- have great weather resistance, which makes
them useful in harsher environmental conditions. These cooling
towers also provide good corrosion resistance, which remains advantageous
in applications such as water treatments, in which the tower
will be exposed
to chemicals.
- consist of forced draft towers, which
contain side fans that force the air through the system, and
induced draft cooling towers, which contain overhead fans that
pull the
air through the system. Mechanical draft cooling towers are often
used
in smaller
cooling tower systems.
- do not utilize fans but rely on exhaust
air buoyancy and natural winds to move the air through the
system. Natural draft cooling towers are used in applications involving
large volumes
of water, such as power generation plants.
- are cooling towers in which water is
internally distributed within the system with direct contact
with the entering
air.
- are
basic cooling systems used to cool water through contact with airflow.
Applications
utilizing
water cooling towers include
air conditioning and water/wastewater.
Cooling Tower Terms
- The DBT as measured by
a thermometer.
- Fans in which
the direction of the airflow does not change. Axial fan types include
propeller, tubaxial and vaneaxial.
- Water
removed from a cooling tower to prevent excessive buildup of impurities
within the system. Impurities increase in concentration as water evaporates
during the cooling process.
- Water removed from a cooling tower through wind or splashing.
Blow out is reduced or eliminated through the use of screens and other
mechanisms.
- The amount of heat gain or loss that
is needed in order to change the temperature of one pound of water by
one degree Fahrenheit.
- Water droplets removed
from a cooling tower along with the exhaust air. Drift must be controlled
because, unlike the water vapor
removed from the tower, drift often contains chemicals, debris and other
impurities that may negatively affect the environment.
- A mechanism in a cooling tower that prevents
drift from leaving the tower by catching the drift as it flows through
the eliminator, while allowing the passage of exhausted air through the
eliminator and into the atmosphere.
- The temperature of the air entering
the cooling tower, measured in degrees Fahrenheit.
- Water in the air being brought into the cooling plumes
as the liquid wastes are discharged.
- The air removed from the cooling tower during the
cooling process. Exhaust air also contains water vapor that has evaporated
during the cooling process.
- A labyrinth-like packing
that provides a vastly expanded air-water interface, which allows heating
of the air and evaporation to occur. Film fill consists of multiple, typically
vertical, wetted surfaces upon which a thin covering of water spreads,
while splash fill consists of many levels of horizontal splash elements
that create a cascade of tiny droplets, which have a large combined surface
area.
- The foggy condensation of water vapor outside of a cooling
tower resulting from the contact of saturated exhaust air emerging from
the tower with cooler air outside of the tower.
- The process in which the fan of the cooling tower
draws air from the bottom of the unit and passes it out through the top
of the cooling tower.
- Sound energy generated by the impact of falling water,
movement of air by fans, the movement of fan blades within the structure
and the drive belts, gearboxes and motors that is emitted by a cooling
tower and recorded at a certain distance and direction.
- A mechanism through which water flows into a cooling tower
in either spray or stream form.
- Exhaust air and water vapor emerging from a cooling tower.
A plume may create fogging when introduced to air of a lower temperature.
- Mechanism used in a cooling tower system to measure
the wet bulb temperature of the system.
- The entrance into a cooling tower of previously
discharged air that reenters the system along with fresh air.
- Cooling tower capacity representing the amount
of liquid, measured in gallons per minute, that a cooling tower can process.
- The temperature within a cooling tower
at which the air is saturated with water vapor, preventing the further
occurrence of water evaporation.