PROJECT REPORT ON STUDY OF COOLING TOWER

ITM GURGAON

SUBMITTED TO:O.P.CHAWLA SENIOR PROFESSOR ITM UNIVERSITY i

SUBMITTED BY:PREET KUMAR (08ME361) SUMIT MALIK (08ME397) VIKAS (08ME413)

ABSTRACT
The aim of the project is to fabricate a forced draught cooling tower, to study and perform experiments of existing induced draught cooling tower and to predict the performance of the both cooling towers by using the 1st law efficiency and 2nd law efficiency concepts. Attempts shall be made to suggest the remedial actions to improve the performance.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter no No.
1 1.1 1.2 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.4.1 2.4.2 3 4

Title
Introduction Importance Applications Literature Review Components Types of cooling tower Heat and moisture Transfer Principle Performance analysis Merkels Theory The volume Transfer Coefficient Performance of Cooling Tower Reference

Page
1 1 2 3 3 5 7 9 9 11 12 15

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 IMPORTANCE
The cooling towers are used to reduce the temperature of a water stream by extracting heat from water and emitting it to the atmosphere. Cooling towers (1) are basically an open system direct heat exchanger, where it is used to reclaim circulating water for reuse in power plant condensers, refrigerant condensers and other heat exchangers. The warm water is admitted to the top of the tower and moves counter flow to the air. Waste heat is rejected to the atmospheric air through convection and evaporation heat transfer. Without a cooling tower, it would require a large amount of water per hour and the amount of water would have to be continuously returned to the ocean, lake or river from which it was obtained. Cooling towers are able to lower the water temperatures more than devices that use only air to reject heat, like the radiator in a car, and are therefore more cost-effective and energy efficient.

1.2 APPLICATIONS
Cooling towers are mainly used in the areas like power plants, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, natural gas processing plants, food processing plants, semi conductor plants, coal fired plants, nuclear power plants, geothermal plants, carbon black plants, fertilizer plants. Some coal fired and nuclear power plants also make use of cooling towers to cool down the recirculating water. The major use for these systems is in the cooling of big buildings and industrialized processes that require a lot of heat removal. The theory behind this configuration lies in the design of thermodynamic concepts and fluid mechanics optimization. Chemicals are also aggregated to the pool in order to help maintain the performance of the pipes working in the system. There are some other applications of cooling tower which are given as: Air conditioning Plants Air refrigeration Plants

1 Process water cooling in Power Plants Air compressors Diesel Generating Machines Plastic Molding Machines Electrical Induction Machines Water Cooling of any furnace or Machines Chemical and Oil Refineries Geothermal Plants Coal fired Plants Nuclear Power Plants Fertilizer Plants Food Processing Plants Natural Gas Processing Plants Semi conductor Plants These are major applications of cooling tower in certain industries.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The cooling tower may be shown as:

Fig. 2.1 Cooling Tower 2.2.1 Components of a cooling tower

The basic components of a cooling tower(2) include the frame and casing, fill, cold-water basin, drift eliminators, air inlet, louvers, nozzles and fans.

2.2.1.1. Frame and casing.

Most towers have structural frames that support the exterior enclosures (casings), motors, fans, and other components. With some smaller designs, such as some glass fiber units, the casing may essentially be the frame.

2.2.1.2. Fill.
Most towers employ fills (made of plastic or wood) to facilitate heat transfer by maximizing water and air contact. There are two types of fill:

(i) Splash fill: waterfalls over successive layers of horizontal splash bars,
continuously breaking into smaller droplets, while also wetting the fill surface. 3 Plastic splash fills promote better heat transfer than wood splash fills. (ii) Film fill: consists of thin, closely spaced plastic surfaces over which the water spreads, forming a thin film in contact with the air. These surfaces may be flat, corrugated, honeycombed, or other patterns. The film type of fill is the more efficient and provides same heat transfer in a smaller volume than the splash fill.

2.2.1.3. Cold-water basin.

The cold-water basin is located at or near the bottom of the tower, and it receives the cooled water that flows down through the tower and fill. The basin usually has a sump or low point for the cold-water discharge connection. In many tower designs, the coldwater basin is beneath the entire fill. In some forced draft counter flow design, however, the water at the bottom of the fill is channeled to a perimeter trough that functions as the coldwater basin. Propeller fans are mounted beneath the fill to blow the air up through the tower. With this design, the tower is mounted on legs, providing easy access to the fans and their motors.

2.2.1.4. Drift eliminators.

These capture water droplets entrapped in the air stream that otherwise would be lost to the atmosphere.

2.2.1.5. Air inlet.

This is the point of entry for the air entering a tower. The inlet may take up an entire side of a tower (cross-flow design) or be located low on the side or the bottom of the tower (counter-flow design).

2.2.1.6. Louvers.
Generally, cross-flow towers have inlet louvers. The purpose of louvers is to equalize air flow into the fill and retain the water within the tower. Many counter flow tower designs do not require louvers.

2.2.1.7. Nozzles.
These spray water to wet the fill. Uniform water distribution at the top of the fill is essential to achieve proper wetting of the entire fill surface. Nozzles can

either be fixed and spray in a round or square patterns, or they can be part of a rotating assembly as found in some circular cross-section towers.

4 2.2.1.8. Fans.
Both axial (propeller type) and centrifugal fans are used in towers. Generally, propeller fans are used in induced draft towers and both propeller and centrifugal fans are found in forced draft towers. Depending upon their size, the type of propeller fans used is either type of propeller fans used is either fixed or variable pitch. A fan with non-automatic adjustable pitch blades can be used over a wide kW range because the fan can be adjusted to deliver the desired air flow at the lowest power consumption. Automatic variable pitch blades can vary air flow in response to changing load conditions.

2.2 Types of cooling tower: The types of cooling tower (3) are gives as:
2.2.1. Natural draft cooling tower:The natural draft or hyperbolic cooling tower makes use of the difference in temperature between the ambient air and the hotter air inside the tower. As hot air moves upwards through the tower (because hot air rises), fresh cool air is drawn into the tower through an air inlet at the bottom. Due to the layout of the tower, no fan is required and there is almost no circulation of hot air that could affect the performance. There are two main types of natural draft towers: a).Cross flow tower: Air is drawn across the falling water and the fill is located outside the tower.

b).Counter flow tower: Air is drawn up through the falling water and the fill is
therefore located inside the tower, although design depends on specific site conditions. 2.2.2. Mechanical draft cooling tower:

Mechanical draft towers have large fans to force or draw air through circulated water. The water falls downwards over fill surfaces, which help increase the contact time between the water and the air - this helps maximize heat transfer between the two.

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2.2.2.1 Types of Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower: a). Forced Draft Cooling Tower: Air is blown through the tower by a fan located in the air inlet.

Advantages: These are suited for high air resistance due to centrifugal blower fans and
fans are relatively quit.

Disadvantages:
Recirculation due to high air-entry and low air-exit velocities, which can be solved by locating towers in plant rooms combined with discharge ducts.

Fig 2.2 Forced draft cooling tower

6 b). Induced Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower: The induced draft cross flow cooling tower has following properties: i). water enters at top and passes over fill ii). air enters on one side (single-flow tower) or opposite sides (double-flow tower) iii). an induced draft fan draws air across fill towards exit at top of tower Advantages: Less recirculation than forced draft towers because the speed of exit air is 34 times higher than entering air.

Disadvantages:
Fans and the motor drive mechanism require weather-proofing against moisture and corrosion because they are in the path of humid exit air.

Fig. 2.3 Induced Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower

c). Induced draft counter flow cooling tower

The induced draft counter flow cooling tower has following properties: i). Hot water enters at the top

ii). Air enters bottom and exits at the top

7 Advantages: Less recirculation than forced draft towers because the speed of exit air is 34 times higher than entering air.

Disadvantages:
Fans and the motor drive mechanism require weather-proofing against moisture and corrosion because they are in the path of humid exit air.

Fig 2.3 Induced Draft Counter Flow Cooling Tower 2.3 HEAT AND MOISTURE TRANSFER PRINCIPLE
When heat (4) is transferred between unsaturated air and dry surface the driving force is difference in dry bulb temperature of air and the temperature of the surface, but when the heat is transferred between unsaturated air and wet surface, now the driving force is the difference in the vapour pressure in the unsaturated air and saturated vapour pressure at the temperature of wet surface. When both the driving forces are present, we find both sensible and sensible heat are transferred in total heat transfer such that Qt = Qs + Q1

2.4 Performance Analysis of Cooling Tower 2.4.1 Merkels Theory

Calculation of cooling tower performance using mass transfer and heat transfer separately is very laborious and Merkels total Heat theory (5) is a means of simplifying the process. The process states that the total heat transfer taking place at a position in the tower is proportional to the difference between the total heat of the air that point and the total heat of the air saturated at the same temperature as the water at the same point. i.e.: Q = K x A x (HW - HG) (2.1) Where Q = heat transferred by conduction and evaporation (kJ/s or kW) K = heat transfer coefficient (kg/m2s) A = area of contact between air and water (m2) Hw = enthalpy of air saturated at water temperature (kJ/kg) HG = enthalpy of ambient air (kJ/kg) To make the use of Merkels theory two steps are necessary, firstly combine K and A into a single coefficient KgA based on the unit volume of the pack. This avoids the problem of determining the area of contact. Then determine the mean value of the enthalpy difference or the mean driving force. The method of arriving at the mean driving force is illustrated by the chart. The chart has been drawn with the actual values of enthalpy on the vertical scale and with a typical range of water temperature on the horizontal scale. The next step is to calculate the rate of heat dissipation: a = Lw x cpw (T1 T2) (2.2) where a = total rate of heat dissipation from the water (kW) Lw = mass flow rate of water (kg/s) Cpw = specific heat capacity of water at constant pressure (kJ/kgK) T1 = water inlet temperature oc

T2 = water outlet temperature oc The heat dissipation from the water will equal the heat gained by the air. a = La (Hg1-Hg2) (2.3) 9 La = airflow rate (kg/s) Hg1 = enthalpy of outlet air (kJ/kg) Hg2 = enthalpy of inlet air (kJ/kg)

Fig. 2.4 Driving Force Diagram The heat loss to surrounding may be neglected hence: Lw x cpw (T1-T2) = La (Hg1 Hg2) which can be written as Hg1 = ((Lw x cpw x (T1 T2))/La) + Hg2 (2.4)

As this is linear equation, the air condition line on chart must be straight. The vertical distance between the saturation line and the air condition line gives the difference in enthalpy at any cross section through the packing. The mean driving force is related to the average vertical distance between the air condition line and the saturation curve. It can be derived from mathematical

equations using integration, or graphical methods can also be used to measure the area between the line and the curve. By adopting the concept of mean driving force and using a factor related to the volume of the pack, the equation for total heat transferred becomes: 10 A = Kg x A x I x a x Hm (2.5) Where I = height of the pack (m) a = area of the pack (m2) KgA = volumetric heat transfer coefficient (kg/m3s) Hm = mean driving force (kJ/kg)

So,
KgA = La(Hg1 Hg2) / (L x a x Hm) And as a = Lm x cpw x (T1 T2) We know that KgA x I x a x Hm = Lw x cpw x (T1 T2) i.e. KgA = Lw x cpw (T1 T2) / (I x a x Hm) (2.6)

The equations assume that La and Lw remains constant but due to evaporation this is not true in practice, however, at normal temperatures the error from this assumption is not significant.

2.4.1 The Volume Transfer Coefficient

The value of volume transfer coefficient (6) KgA depends upon the type of packing used in the tower, and on the water and air flow rates. Values of KgA are experimentally by the manufacturers of the packing and are expressed as: KgA = C x (Lw/a)2 x (La/a)n (2.7)

Lw and La are water and air flow rates in kg/s a is the horizontal cross sectional area of the pack C, m and n are constants (or performance coefficients) for the pack as determined by the manufactures.

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3. PERFORMANCE OF COOLING TOWERS

This section describes how the performance of cooling towers (7) can be assessed. The performance of cooling towers is evaluated to assess present levels of approach and range against their design values, identify areas of energy wastage and to suggest improvements. During the performance evaluation, portable monitoring instruments are used to measure the following 1. Wet bulb temperature of air 2. Dry bulb temperature of air 3. Cooling tower inlet water temperature 4. Cooling tower outlet water temperature 5. Exhaust air temperature 6. Electrical readings of pump and fan motors 7. Water flow rate 8. Air flow rate

Fig 3.1 Range and approach of cooling tower 12

i).Capacity:
This is the heat rejected in kCal/hr or TR, given as product of mass flow rate of water, specific heat and temperature difference. Heat dissipation (in kCal/hour) and circulated flow rate (m3/hr) are an indication of the capacity of cooling towers. However, these design parameters are not sufficient to understand the cooling tower performance. For example, a cooling tower sized to cool 4540 m3/hr through a 13.9oC range might be larger than a cooling tower to cool 4540 m3/hr through 19.5oC range. Therefore other design parameters are also needed.

ii). Range:
This is the difference between the cooling tower water inlet and outlet temperature. A high CT Range means that the cooling tower has been able to reduce the water temperature effectively, and is thus performing well. CT Range (C) = [CW inlet temp (C) CW outlet temp (C)]

Cooling towers are usually specified to cool a certain flow rate from one temperature to another temperature at a certain wet bulb temperature. For example, the cooling tower might be specified to cool 4540 m3/hr from 48.9oC to 32.2oC at 26.7oC wet bulb temperature.

iii). Approach:
This is the difference between the cooling tower outlet coldwater temperature and ambient wet bulb temperature. The lower the approach, the better the cooling tower performance. Although, both range and approach should be monitored, the Approach is a better indicator of cooling tower performance. CT Approach (C) = [CW outlet temp (C) Wet bulb temp (C)] When the size of the tower has to be chosen, then the approach is most important, closely followed by the flow rate, and the range and wet bulb would be of lesser importance.

iv). Effectiveness:
This is the ratio between the range and the ideal range (in percentage), i.e. difference between cooling water inlet temperature and ambient 13 wet bulb temperature, or in other words Effectiveness = Range / (Range + Approach). The higher this ratio, the higher the cooling tower effectiveness.

vi). Evaporation loss:

This is the water quantity evaporated for cooling duty.

vii). Cycles of concentration:

This is the ratio of dissolved solids in circulating water to the dissolved solids in make up water.

viii). Blow down losses:

Blow down losses depend upon cycles of concentration and the evaporation losses and is given by formula:

Blow down = Evaporation loss / (C.O.C. 1)

ix). Heat load:

The degree of cooling required is controlled by the desired operating temperature 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. However, in some applications (e.g. internal combustion engines) high operating temperatures are desirable. The size and cost of the cooling tower is increases with increasing heat load.

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REFERENCES
Sarabhai.R, International Journal on thermodynamics engineering on external factors, 2005, pp1-23.
1.

Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Power, India, Cooling Towers in Energy Efficiency in Electrical Utilities, Chapter 7, 2004, pp135 - 151.
2. 3.

Ramarao, R.A. Paltech cooling towers and equipment, Chapter 3, 2003, pp18-22. Zimmer, Maintenance of cooling tower, Arihant Publications, vol. 3, 2008, pp 27-

4.

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5. Sarabhai Journal on Efficiency & Effectiveness, Dhanpat Rai Publications, vol. 14, 2009, pp 56-80 6. Dennylias, Cleaning on cooling towers, Umesh Publications, 2007, pp. 48-88
7.

Perry, Perrys Chemical Engineers Handbook, Chapter 5, 2005, pp12-17

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