Intro

cooling tower is a heat rejection device, which removes waste heat to the
atmosphere though the cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature.
The type of heat rejection in a cooling tower is termed "evaporative" in
that it allows a small portion of the water being cooled to evaporate into a
moving air stream to provide significant cooling to the rest of that water
stream. The heat from the water stream transferred to the air stream
raises the air's temperature and its relative humidity to 100%, and this air
is discharged to the atmosphere. Evaporative heat rejection devices such
as cooling towers are commonly used to provide significantly lower water
temperatures than achievable with "air cooled" or "dry" heat rejection
devices, like the radiator in a car, thereby achieving more cost-effective
and energy efficient operation of systems in need of cooling. (Cooling
Technology Institute, 2012). The cooling potential of a wet surface is much
better than a dry one. . Common applications include cooling the
circulating water used in oil refineries, petrochemical and other chemical
plants, thermal power stations and HVAC systems for cooling buildings.
The generic term cooling tower is used to describe both direct (open
circuit) and indirect (closed circuit) heat rejection equipment. A direct,
open-circuit cooling tower is an enclosed structure with internal means to
distribute the warm water fed to it over a labyrinth-packing or fill. The
fill may consist of multiple, mainly vertical, wetted surfaces upon which
thin film of water spreads. An indirect, or closed circuit cooling tower
involves indirect contact of the air and the fluid, which usually water or a
glycol mixture, being cooled (Southwest Thermal Technology,2015).
According to cleanenergy.org, cooling towers vary in size from small rooftop units to very large hyperboloid structures (as in the adjacent image)
that can be up to 200 metres tall and 100 metres in diameter, or
rectangular structures that can be over 40 metres tall and 80 metres long.
The hyperboloid cooling towers are often associated with nuclear power
plants, although they are also used to some extent in some large chemical
and other industrial plants. Although these large towers are very
prominent, the vast majority of cooling towers are much smaller, including
many units installed on or near buildings to discharge heat from air
conditioning.
In this study, the cooling load effect, effect of different water flow rates
and heater power also the effect of both flow rate on the wet bulb
approach and pressure drop through the packing is determined. The
manipulated variable in this study are the heater power in the first study
and the water flow rate in the second study.

Theory
The basic principle of the cooling tower operation is that of evaporative
condensation and exchange of sensible heat. The air and water mixture
releases latent heat of vaporization which has a cooling effect on water by
turning a certain amount of liquid into its gaseous state thereby releasing
the latent heat of vaporization. This is more effectively demonstrated by
wetting the back of your hand with water and blowing on it. This effect is
what happens inside the cooling tower. The air stream releases latent heat
of vaporization thereby dropping the temperature of the water on your
skin. The liquid changing to its vaporous state consumes heat which is
taken from the water remaining, thus lowering its temperature. There is a
penalty involved, and that is loss of water which goes up to the cooling
tower and is discharged into the atmosphere as hot moist vapour. Sensible
heat that changes temperature is also responsible for part of the cooling
towers operation. When water is warmer that the air, there is a tendency
for the air to cool the water. The air then gets hotter as it gains the
sensible heat of the water and the water is cooled as its sensible heat is
transferred to the air. Approximately 25% of the sensible heat transfer
occurs in the tower while the balance of the 75% cooling is due to the
evaporative effect of latent heat of vaporization (Jalal Engineering, 2005).

Figure 4.1: Schematic diagram of cooling tower operation

(http://www.globalspec.com/learnmore/manufacturing_process_equipment
/heat_transfer_equipment/cooling_towers)
According to Jalal Engineering (2005), Cooling tower selection and
performance is based on water flow rate, water inlet temperature, water
outlet temperature and ambient wet bulb temperature and also the heat
load. The heat load here is referring to the heater pump. The heat load
imposed on a cooling tower is determined by the process being served.
The degree of cooling required is controlled by the desired operating
temperature level of the process. In most cases, a low operating
temperature is desirable to increase process efficiency or to improve the
quality or quantity of the product. In some applications (e.g. ), however,
high operating temperatures are desirable. The size and cost of the
cooling tower is proportional to the heat load. Process heat loads may vary
considerably depending upon the process involved. The heat load is
supplied by the unit being served by the cooling tower. In the usual
circulating system the heat load is independent of the cooling tower. The
circulating water flow is determined by the number of pumps running and
the pressure drop in the overall circulating water system. Therefore, it
likewise is independent of the cooling tower. If heat load, the constant,
and the circulating water flow are all independent of the cooling tower,
then by mathematical deduction the range is likewise completely
independent of the cooling tower.
According to Sharon et. al., (1996) the operation of cooling tower s based on First Law of
thermodynamics which is conservation of energy. This law defines that the energy enters the
system must be equal to the energy exit the system, energy can neither be created nor
destroyed, just transformed from one to another. Energy that enters the cooling tower is in
form of hot water where this hot water was cooled from temperature T1 to a temperature
T2.The cooling of the hot water is in forced convection where the ambient air at T1 was
blown over the hot water and exited the cooling tower at some temperature T2. The energy
balance can be conducted when the temperature of air and water were recorded.

Energy balance is a form of book keeping that accounts for the energy entering and leaving
the system. The main component defined as
H = U PV
Where H is enthalpy, U is internal energy, P is pressure and V is volume. Enthalpy can be
calculated or referred from tables of data for the fluid being used. Commonly table of data
that have enthalpy is for water in most engineering thermodynamics books. The enthalpy of
output cooled water can similarly be referred and an energy balance can be conducted for the
water. Since the temperature if initial and final temperature of input hot water and output cold
water were measured, the enthalpy can be calculated (Sharon et. al., 1996). Thus, equation
below displays the general method to conduct and energy balance:

in =

Where

out

H = H

in

- H

out.

The change in enthalpy can be determined from either of two

methods. Since the air operates at low pressure, thus it can be treated as ideal gas and the
enthalpy change can be calculated through following equation:
H = Cp
Where

T
H is the change in enthalpy,

T is change in temperature and Cp is the specific

heat with respect to constant pressure.

The water going into the cooling tower loses enrgy.the enthalpy of thw water going into the
tower can be determined by using the enthalpy of saturated liquid water in a steam table. The
enthalpy of the water coming out of the tower can be determined in the same way. The data in
steam tables are usually not given for enery temperature so linear interpolation must be
performed to determine the enthalpy desired temperature. The enthalphy if the water is
multiplied by the mass flow rate (Sharon et. al., 1996). 1 minute basis is chosen in order to
make the calculation easite. The change in enthalpy is detemuned by

Hair =

Hair-out -

Hair-in

However, the determination of the enthalpy of air is more complicated than the determination
of enthalpy values of the water stream. Thus psychrometric chart is used where the enthalpy
if air stream can be determined using wet bulb and the dry bulb of the air stream. Now the
mass flow rate of dry air is known,the enthalpy values of the in and out stream can be
determined.the change in enthalphy of the water should have a negative value, and the change
in enthalpy of the air should have a positive value. Theoritically, when this two value added,
the results must equal to zero (Sharon et. al., 1996) . Thus, the first law of thermodynamic
was applied where:

Hwater =

air

And

Hwater +

Hair = 0.

reference
Cooling Technology Institute, (2012). What is a (wet, atmospheric) cooling
tower? retrieved on 21 April 2015 from
http://www.cti.org/whatis/coolingtowerdetail.shtml
Southwest Thermal Technology, (2015). Cooling Towers: Counter Flow and
Cross Flow. retrieved on 21 April 2015 from
http://www.southwestthermal.com/cooling-towers.html
cleanenergy.org. Clean Energy Footprints. Identifying Nuclear Reactors in
Google Earth Retrieved 5/19/2014
Jalal Engineering, (2005). Cooling Tower Basics and Common
Misconceptions. retrieved on 21 April 2015 from
http://www.jalal.com.pk/papers/Cooling%20Tower%20Basics%20and
%20Common%20Misconceptions.pdf
Sharon Lewis Scott Daniels and Austin Newman (1996). Cooling Tower
Experiments. University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of
Engineering Engineering 435. retrieved on 22 April 2015 from
http://chem.engr.utc.edu/webres/435F/3T-CT/3T-CT.html