ISSUE: 1 SUBJECT: COOLING TOWER PERFORMANCE

SECTION: Basics
Basic Theory and Practice
INTENT TOTAL HEAT EXCHANGE
In the Foreword of Cooling Tower Fundamentals (revised and republished by A cooling tower is a specialized heat
The Marley Cooling Tower Company in 1982), the scope of cooling tower exchanger in which two fluids (air and
knowledge was recognized as being too broad to permit complete coverage in a water) are brought into direct contact
single publication. As a consequence, treatment of the subject matter appearing with each other to affect the transfer of
in that book may have raised more questions than it gave answers. And, such heat. In the spray-filled tower shown
was its intentto provide a level of basic knowledge which will facilitate in Figure 1, this is accomplished by
dialogue, and understanding, between user and manufacturer. In short, it was spraying a flowing mass of water into a
designed to permit questions to spring from a solid foundationand to give the rain-like pattern, through which an
user a basis for proper evaluation of the answers received. upward moving mass flow of cool air is
This is the first of a series of papers intended to expand upon the basic induced by the action of a fan.
information already published. The plan for the series is to limit individual topics Ignoring any negligible amount of
to as few aspects of cooling tower design, application, and operation as neces- sensible heat exchange that may occur
sary to make for quick and informative reading. From time to time, however, through the walls (casing) of the tower,
subjects will arise whose scope precludes adequate coverage in a short paper, the heat gained by the air must equal
and whose thread of continuity would be lost in separate installments. Those the heat lost by the water. Within the air
subjects will be treated in Technical Reports of somewhat greater length, stream, the rate of heat gain is identified
receiving the same distribution as will have been established by evidence of by the expression G (h2 h1), where:
reader interest. In addition, existing publications whose content remains current
and fundamentally sound will become part of the useful cooling tower library that G = Mass flow of dry air
recipients will compile. through the towerlb/min.
Although this first paper touches briefly upon the theory of cooling tower h1 = Enthalpy (total heat
performance, the basic content of future papers will be far more practical than content) of entering air
theoretical. This is because The Marley Cooling Tower Company, in the course of Btu/Ib of dry air.
its existence, has designed and manufactured every type of tower currently h2 = Enthalpy of leaving air
utilized in the industry, which allows all information and comparisons given to Btu/Ib of dry air.
come from experience. However, since the operating characteristics of any
cooling tower are governed by the laws of physics, psychrometrics, and thermo- Within the water stream, the rate of
dynamics, such laws may be described occasionally for purposes of promoting heat loss would appear to be L (t1 t2),
complete understanding. where:

L = Mass flow of water

entering the towerlb/min.
FIGURE 1 t1= Hot water temperature
entering the towerF.
t2 = Cold water temperature
leaving the towerF.

This derives from the fact that a Btu

(British thermal unit) is the amount of
heat gain or loss necessary to change
the temperature of 1 pound of water by
1 F.
However, because of the evaporation
that takes place within the tower, the
mass flow of water leaving the tower is
less than that entering it, and a proper
heat balance must account for this
slight difference. Since the rate of
evaporation must equal the rate of
change in the humidity ratio (absolute
humidity) of the air stream, the rate of

 FIGURE 2

Sea Level
Barometric Pressure14.696 lb/sq in
 FIGURE 3 Optimum operation of a process
usually occurs within a relatively narrow
band of flow rates and cold water
temperatures, which establishes two of
HEAT = L x R
the parameters required to size a cooling
LOAD towernamely, gpm and cold water
temperature. The heat load developed by
the process establishes a third
parameterhot water temperature
coming to the tower. For example, lets
assume that a process developing a heat
load of 125,000 Btu/min performs best if
HEAT LOAD, RANGE & GPM supplied with 1,000 gpm of water at
The expression Ldt in equation (1) 85F. With a slight transformation of
heat loss represented by this change in represents the heat load imposed on the formula (2), we can determine the water
humidity ratio can be expressed as tower by whatever process it is serving. temperature elevation through the
G (H2 - H1) (t2 - 32), where: However, because pounds of water per process as:
unit time are not easily measured, heat 125,000
R= = 15F
H1 = Humidity ratio of entering load is usually expressed as: 1,000 x 8
airlb vapor/lb dry air.
H2 = Humidity ratio of leaving Heat Load = Therefore, the hot water temperature
airlb vapor/lb dry air. gpm x R x 8 = Btu/min. (2) coming to the tower would be 85F +
(t2 - 32) = An expression of water 15F = 100F.
enthalpy at the cold water Where:
temperatureBtu/Ib. (The gpm = Water flow rate WET-BULB TEMPERATURE
through process and over Having determined that the cooling
enthalpy of water is zero at
towergal/min. tower must be able to cool 1,000 gpm of
32F)
R = Range = Difference water from 100F to 85F, what param-
between hot and cold water eters of the entering air must be known?
Including this loss of heat through
temperaturesF. (See Fig.3) Equation (1) would identify enthalpy to
evaporation, the total heat balance
8 = Pounds per gallon of water. be of prime concern, but air enthalpy is
between air and water, expressed as a
not something that is routinely measured
differential equation, is:
Note from formula (2) that heat load and recorded at any geographic location.
establishes only a required temperature However, wet-bulb and dry-bulb
Gdh = Ldt + GdH (t2 - 32) (1)
differential in the process water, and is temperatures are values easily mea-
unconcerned with the actual hot and sured, and a glance at Figure 2 (psychro-
The total derivation of equation (1)
cold water temperatures themselves. metric chart) shows that lines of constant
can be found in A Comprehensive
Therefore, the mere indication of a heat wet-bulb are parallel to lines of constant
Approach to the Analysis of Cooling
load is meaningless to the Application enthalpy, whereas lines of constant dry-
Tower Performance by D.R. Baker and
Engineer attempting to properly size a bulb have no fixed relationship to
H.A. Shryock, printed in the August 1961
cooling tower. More information of a enthalpy. Therefore, wet-bulb tempera-
issue of the Journal of Heat Transfer, and
specific nature is required. ture is the only air parameter needed to
available from The Marley Cooling Tower
properly size a cooling tower, and its
Company.
relationship to other parameters is as
shown in the Figure 3 diagram.

FIGURE 5

FIGURE 4
Constants:
6 Heat Load
Constants: Approach
Range 1.3 Wet-Bulb
5 Approach
Wet-bulb 1.2
Tower Size Factor
Tower Size Factor

4 1.1

3 1.0 Dec
rea
sing
.9 gpm
2
.8
1
.7

.6
1 2 3 4 5 6 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Range Variance %
Heat Load Factor
 FIGURE 6 FIGURE 7
2.5 2.0
Constants: Constants:
Heat Load Heat Load

Tower Size Factor

Tower Size Factor
2.0 Range Range
EFFECTS OF VARIABLES 1.5 Approach
Wet-Bulb
Although several parameters are
1.5
defined in Figure 3, each of which will 1.0
affect the size of a tower, understanding
their effect is simplified if one thinks only 1.0
in terms of 1) heat load; 2) range; 3) 0.5
55 60 65 70 75 80
approach; and 4) wet-bulb temperature. .05
5 10 15 20 25 30 Wet-Bulb (F) (Example)
If three of these parameters are held
constant, changing the fourth will affect Approach F
the tower size as follows:
1) Tower size varies directly and ENTHALPY EXCHANGE VISUALIZED of water) were evaporated from
linearly with heat load. See To understand the exchange of the water at a latent heat of
Figure 4. total heat that takes place in a cooling vaporization of about 1000 Btu/
2) Tower size varies inversely with tower, let's assume a tower designed Ib. This means that about 13 of
range. See Figure 5. Two primary to cool 120 gpm (1000 lb/min) of water the 15 Btu's removed from the
factors account for this. First; from 85F to 70F at a design wet-bulb water (about 86% of the total)
increasing the rangeFigure 3 temperature of 65F and (for purposes occurred by virtue of evapora-
also increases the ITD (driving of illustration only) a coincident dry- tion. (The latent heat of vaporiza-
force) between the incoming hot bulb temperature of 78F. (These air tion of water varies with tem-
water temperature and the conditions are defined as point 1 on perature, from about 1075 Btu/Ib
entering wet-bulb temperature. Figure 2) Let's also assume that air is at 32F to 970 Btu/Ib at 212F.
Second, increasing the range (at caused to move through the tower at Actual values at specific tem-
a constant heat load) requires the rate of 1000 lb/min (approximately peratures are tabulated in
that the water flow rate be 13,500 cfm). Since the mass flows of various thermodynamics
decreasedFormula (2)which air and water are equal, one pound of manuals.)
reduces the static pressure air can be said to contact one pound
opposing the flow of air. of water and the psychrometric path of At a given rate of air moving
3) Tower size varies inversely with one such pound of air has been traced through a cooling tower, the extent of
approach. A longer approach on Figure 2 as it moves through the heat transfer which can occur depends
requires a smaller tower. See tower. upon the amount of water surface
Figure 6. Conversely, a smaller Air enters the tower at condition 1 exposed to that air. In the tower
approach requires an increas- (65F wet-bulb and 78F dry-bulb) and depicted in Figure 1, total exposure
ingly larger tower and, at 5F begins to gain enthalpy (total heat) and consists of the cumulative surface
approach, the effect upon tower moisture content in an effort to achieve areas of a multitude of random sized
size begins to become asymp- equilibrium with the water. This pursuit droplets, the size of which depends
totic. For that reason, it is not of equilibrium (solid line) continues largely upon the pressure at which the
customary in the cooling tower until the air exits the tower at condition water is sprayed. Higher pressure will
industry to guarantee any 2. The dashed lines identify the produce a finer sprayand greater
approach of less than 5F. following changes in the psychrometric total surface area exposure. However,
4) Tower size varies inversely with properties of this pound of air due to droplets contact each other readily in
wet-bulb temperature. When its contact with the water: the overlapping spray patterns and, of
heat load, range, and approach course, coalesce into larger droplets,
values are fixed, reducing the Total heat content (enthalpy) which reduces the net surface area
design wet-bulb temperature increased from 30.1 Btu to 45.1 exposure. Consequently, predicting the
increases the size of the tower. Btu. This enthalpy increase of 15 thermal performance of a spray-filled
See Figure 7. This is because Btu was gained from the water. tower is difficult at best, and is highly
most of the heat transfer in a Therefore, one pound of water dependent upon good nozzle design
cooling tower occurs by virtue of was reduced in temperature by as well as a constant water pressure.
evaporation (which extracts the required amount of 15F (85- Subsequent issues will deal with
approximately 1000 Btu's for 70). See page 1. water distribution system arrange-
every pound of water evapo- The airs moisture content ments used in other types of towers,
rated), and air's ability to absorb increased from 72 grains to 163 along with the various types of "fills"
moisture reduces with tempera- grains (7000 grains = 1 lb). These utilized to increase water surface area
ture. 91 grains of moisture (0.013 lbs. exposure and enhance thermal
performance.