Cooling Towers

Basics , Classification & Design

Introduction
• A cooling tower is a specialized heat exchanger in which air and water are brought into direct contact with
each other in order to reduce the water's temperature.
• As this occurs, a small volume of water is evaporated, reducing the temperature of the water being circulated
through the tower.
• In Open Cycle Power Plant application Cooling Tower is mainly used for Lube oil Cooling, Generator Cooling
and other powerhouse AC requirements.
• In some applications cooling tower is an effective & cheap alternative to fin fan cooler.

2 M$ FinFan Cooler

Induced Draft CT

1.2 M$

Price for Same Capacity

 Types of Cooling Towers

Cooling
Tower

Natural Draft Mechanical Draft

Counter Flow Cross Flow

Induced Draft Forced Draft

Counter Flow Plume-Abated Cross Flow Counter Flow

Components of Cooling Towers
Components of Cooling Towers

Drift Eliminator Water Distribution System Film Fill

Fan Drive Shaft Motor

 Natural Draft Cooling Towers
• In the natural draft cooling tower, the necessary air mass flow is caused by
density differences.
• Natural draft towers are usually very tall in order to induce adequate air flow.
• They are also expensive to construct and are only used for applications where
a large constant cooling requirement over many years is required; a thermal
power plant is one such application.

✓ Low maintenance costs.

✓ Low operational costs.
PROS

✓ Low system losses (typically less than 1% of total flow).

✓ Low noise level as there are no fans used.
✓ Large cooling capacity.
× Large initial capital investment.
CONS

× Difficult to get planning permission due to the large structure

× Performance varies with dry bulb Temperature & Relative Humidity.
Natural Draft Cooling Towers (Cross flow vs Counter Flow)

Water
Water
Air
Air

Water Nozzles Exchange Surface/Fill Drift Eliminators

Natural Draft Cross Flow Type Natural Draft Counter Flow Type
Natural Draft Cooling Towers
• Cool cooling water is pumped from the cooling tower basin to the power plant. The cool cooling water is
heated by the process and its temperature increases. The warm cooling water is now pumped back to the
cooling tower to be cooled.
• The incoming warm water is distributed through spray nozzles inside the tower. The spray nozzles spray the
warm water evenly over the entire fill. Water passes downwards through the fill whilst air passes upwards
Working

• As the water travels downwards through the fill, some of it evaporates which causes the remaining water to
be cooled (evaporative cooling).
• As air travels through the fill, its temperature increases, and it rises to the top of the cooling tower due to
the stack effect (hot air is less dense than cool air and thus rises above it). The air exiting the top of the tower
draws in more air at the base of the tower, creating a natural air flow from the base to the top of the tower
this is the stack effect and it is continuous providing cooling water is constantly circulated.

• The main reasons behind the hyperboloid shape of the tower

Shape

∙ The shape reduces the amount of construction material required when building such a large
tower.
∙ The paraboloid shape of the tower accelerates the air flow through the tower
Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower
• Air is introduced across the fill material by mechanical draft (By using fan(s)).
• In the fill material, the moving air makes direct contact with the hot water and carries the heat away resulting
Working

in cooling the hot water.

• The cooled water is then collected in a cold-water basin below the fill from which it is pumped back to the
condenser

• Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower are classified as follows,

Forced Draft Counter Flow

Classification

Mechanical Draft Cross Flow

Cooling Tower
Induced Draft Counter Flow

Plume Abated
 Forced Draft Cooling Tower
• In Forced Draft Cooling Tower, the air is blown in at the bottom of the tower and exits
at the top.
• Forced draft cooling towers are the forerunner to induced draft cooling towers.
• Water distribution problems and recirculation difficulties discourage the use of forced
draft cooling towers.

✓ Vibration and Noise are minimum.

✓ Since fans and motor drive equipment's are at bottom no weather
PROS

proofing is required.
✓ No problem of fan blade erosion because it is handling dry air.
CONS

× Consume significantly more power than induced draft cooling towers

× More prone to recirculation if not ducted.
 Induced Draft Cooling Tower
• Induced draft tower have a fan at the discharge (at the top) which pulls air up
through the tower. The fan induces hot moist air out the discharge.
• This produces low entering and high exiting air velocities, reducing the possibility of
recirculation in which discharged air flows back into the air intake.
• With society’s focus on energy conservation , Induced draft Cooling Tower is
replacing the forced draft towers.

✓ Less recirculation than forced draft towers.

✓ Less energy consumption(Compared to other type of cooling
PROS

tower)
✓ Capable of cooling wide range.

× Air Velocities are unevenly distributed.

CONS

× Static pressure loss is higher because base tends to choke at high

velocity pressures.
× Weather proofing is required for fans and motor drive equipment’s.
 Crossflow Cooling Towers

▪ In crossflow towers the water flows vertically through

the fill while the air flows horizontally, across the flow
of the falling water.

▪ Because of this, air does not have to pass through the

distribution system, permitting the use of gravity flow
hot water distribution system mounted at the top of the
unit above the fill.

▪ These type of system are universally applied on all

crossflow towers.
 Counterflow Cooling Towers

▪ Counterflow towers are designed so that air flows

vertically upward, counter to the flow of falling water
in the fill.

▪ Because of this vertical airflow, it is not possible to use

the open, gravity-flow system typical in crossflow
designs. Instead, counterflow towers use pressurized,
pipe-type spray systems to spray water onto the top
of the fill.

▪ Since air must be able to pass through the spray

system, the pipes and nozzles must be farther apart so
as not to restrict airflow.
Plume Abated Cooling Towers.
• On leaving the tower, the air is notably warm and saturated with moisture.
• Particularly during winter months, when the outside temperature falls, as soon as the stream of air - which is
warm and saturated with moisture - comes into contact with the atmosphere outside, it is suddenly cooled.
• When the temperature of the airflow falls below the dew point, part of the water contained in it condenses,
giving rise to the characteristic visual phenomenon which is vapour plume.
• Plume abated cooling towers are normally induced draft cooling tower with additional technology for plume
abatement

CT with plume abatement

CT without plume abatement

Plume abated CT
Plume Abated Cooling Towers.
Ambient air passes through the warm, wet section getting
1
warmer & 100 % saturated. 4

Another dry hot stream of ambient air is getting heated by

2 indirect contact of the hot water line. 3

The saturated air leaving the wet section which is mixed with 2 2
dry hot air with low humidity from the dry section, increasing
3 the saturation temperature & avoiding the formation of
plume.
1 1

4 Air Leaving
Cooling Tower Design Calculation.
Range : Difference between cooling water inlet and outlet temperature.

Approach : Difference between cooling tower outlet cold water temperature and ambient wet bulb
temperature.

Effectiveness : Effectiveness in % = Range / (Range + Approach)

Cooling Capacity : Heat rejected in kcal/hr. or tons of refrigeration (TR)

Evaporation Loss : Water quantity (m3/hr) evaporated for cooling duty. Theoretically, 1.8 m3 for every
10,000,000 kCal heat rejected

Cycles of concentration : Ratio of dissolved solids in circulating water to the dissolved solids in make up
water
Cooling Tower Loss Calculation Sample.

Evaporation Loss Calculation, Le = 0.00085 x Range x 1.8 x Flow rate in m3/hr.

Evaporation

0.00085 x 6 x 1.8 x 3200

Loss

29.376 m3/hr.

Blowdown Loss Calculation, Lb. = Evaporation Loss / (Cycle of concentration – 1)

Blowdown

29.376 / ( 6 – 1)
Loss

5.8752 m3/hr.

Drift Loss Calculation, Ld. = (0.1 x C ) / 100

Drift Loss

(0.1 x 3200 ) / 100

3.2 m3/hr.

Total Loss = Le + Lb. + Ld. = 29.376 + 5.8752 + 3.2 = 38.5 m3/hr.

.
Natural Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower Natural Draft Counter Flow Cooling Tower
Induced Draft Counter Flow Cooling Tower Forced Draft Counter Flow Cooling Tower

Induced Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower Plume Abated Cooling Tower
 A camouflaged natural draft cooling tower

Forced draft wet CT (ht: 34 m) and natural draft CT (ht:122 meters) in Germany Access stairs at the base of a massive CT give a sense of its scale
END.