International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering

Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE OF FOUR CELL INDUCED

DRAFT CROSS FLOW COOLING TOWER
Moni Kuntal Bora1, S. Nakkeeran2
1
M.Tech in Thermal Engineering, 2Department of Mechanical Engineering
Bharath University, Deemed University
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.

Abstract: In many refrigeration, chemical, combustion and cooling as an option. When water is used as the heat transfer
power generation systems, excess heat need to be rejected to medium, wet, or evaporative, cooling towers may be used.
the environment. The most efficient way to do this is to use Wet cooling towers rely on the latent heat of water
available water from lakes, rivers and the sea to remove the evaporation to exchange heat between the process and the air
process heat via a heat exchanger and then to return the passing through the cooling tower. The cooling water may be
water back to its source at a higher temperature. Due to an integral part of the process or may provide cooling via
environmental and conservation laws and the shortage of heat exchangers. Although cooling towers can be classified
such natural water resources, the alternative is to reject several ways, the primary classification is into dry towers or
waste heat to the atmosphere. In areas where there is wet towers, and some hybrid wet-dry combinations exist.
sustainable water supply at reasonable cost, evaporative or Sub classifications can include the draft type and/or the
wet cooling towers are generally used. This paper describes location of the draft relative to the heat transfer medium, the
about performance of induced draft cross flow cooling type of heat transfer medium, the relative direction of air
tower consist of four cells. Here, a comparison is done with movement, and the type of water distribution system. Here
the design values and the influencing factors of cooling the subject of interest is an induced draft cross flow cooling
tower performance are also mentioned. Reducing energy tower consists of four cells. Induced draft towers utilize large
outflows for cooling tower may be as simple as regular fans to force or suck air through circulated water. The water
maintenance. Proper maintenance will optimize heat falls downward over fill surfaces, which help increase the
transfer and help to upgrade cooling tower performance. contact time between the water and the air - this helps
Energy efficiency measure is to increase the efficiency of maximize heat transfer between the two. Cooling rates of
the existing cooling tower by improving the maintenance induced draft towers depend upon their fan diameter and
procedures and by implementing new proven technology in speed of operation. In cross flow induced draft towers, the
the current energy system. water enters at the top and passes over the fill. The air,
Keywords: Range; Approach; effectiveness; heatload; however, is introduced at opposite sides. An induced draft
evaporation loss; wet bulb temperature. fan draws the air across the wetted fill and expels it through
the top of the structure. Many towers are constructed so that
they can be grouped together to achieve the desired capacity.
I. INTRODUCTION
Individual cooling towers are called "cells."
In steam power plants, steam is generated from a heat
source such as coal, gas, nuclear or geothermal. The steam is
used to drive a turbine connected to an electricity generator.
The steam enters the turbine at high pressure and leaves at a
lower pressure. To maximize cycle efficiency the low
pressure outlet is maintained at a vacuum state. The vacuum
is created by cooling the steam back into liquid form in a
condenser. A common way to provide the cooling is by
pumping water from a nearby river lake or sea through the
condenser. These cooling sources provide a vast amount of
cooling liquid with a low temperature variation. The water is
pumped to the power plant, which requires the plant to be as
close to the source as possible. Large quantities of cooling
water are required which makes distance and elevation from
the water source to the plant influence its efficiency. When
large quantities of water are extracted from the environment,
heated up and returned, the impact on the ecosystem can be
significant. Therefore, the increase in temperature is
generally restricted by law. Furthermore, power plants often
require being close to the heat source which eliminates direct
Fig. 1. Induced Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 561

International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

In cross flow towers the air enters horizontally into the improving thermal efficiency and the evaporation rate,
tower and goes directly into the fill as the water falls thereby increasing heat rejection. There are several variations
downwards and there is no rain zone. The air leaves the fill of film fill geometries commercially available, and though
on the other side of the fill and does not need to flow through they do greatly increase the heat rejection rate over splash-
the water distribution system. Water distribution systems in type fills, they are also much more susceptible to fouling,
cross flow towers are therefore, not as restricted in terms of scaling, and microbiological growth (these are discussed in
design, which can often allow for a more uniform water greater detail in the System Concerns section). Development
distribution over the fill. of any of these problems greatly reduces the cooling
efficiency and in severe cases can collapse portions of the
II. ELEMENTS OF COOLING TOWER tower fill or tower structure. To avoid this, film fill should be
The basic components of an evaporative tower are: Frame inspected routinely to ensure it is clean and free of debris,
and casing, fill, cold water basin, drift eliminators, air inlet, scale, and biological activity. To minimize losses due to drift
louvers, nozzles and fans. Cooling towers are the primary and help direct airflow into the tower, louvers and drift
component used to exhaust heat in open recirculating cooling eliminators are commonly used. Louvers are most often seen
systems. They are designed to maximize air and water along the sides of the tower structure, while drift eliminators
contact to provide as much evaporation as possible. This is reside in the top section of the tower to capture entrained
accomplished by maximizing the surface area of the water as water droplets that may otherwise leave through the stack.
it flows over and down through the tower structure. Damaged or incorrectly oriented louvers along with damaged
drift eliminators will lead to excessive losses due to drift
from the tower structure. Therefore, louvers and drift
eliminator sections should be routinely inspected and
repaired to ensure optimal water usage. After the water
passes through the fill it cascades down to a collection basin
at the base of the tower structure. From the basin the cold
water can be pumped back into the system to extract process
or comfort cooling needs and begin the cycle all over again.
By design, cooling towers consume large volumes of water
through the evaporation process to maintain comfort cooling
or process cooling needs, although they use significantly less
water than similar capacity once-through cooling systems.
Because the evaporative loss is water containing little to no
dissolved solids, the water remaining in the cooling tower
becomes concentrated with dissolved solids, which can lead
to scaling and corrosive conditions. To combat these
problems, water with high total dissolved solid content must
be drained from the system via “blowdown”. The associated
losses caused by blowdown, evaporation, drift, and system
Fig.2 Operation of Induced Draft Cross Flow Cooling Tower leaks must be accounted for by system make-up
requirements.
First, the water is distributed evenly across the top of the
cooling tower structure. Tower distributions decks can be a III. COOLING TOWER PERFORMANCE
series of spray nozzles oriented up or down (like a ESTIMATION
landscaping sprinkler system) to uniformly distribute the
water over the tower structure. In some cases, the distribution
deck may just be a series of holes through which the water
falls onto the tower structure. Regardless the distribution
deck must uniformly apportion the recirculating water across
the tower structure. Broken nozzles or plugged orifices will
impede uniform distribution across the tower structure,
negatively impacting the overall heat exchange capacity of
the system. As the water falls from the distribution deck, the
surface area is further expanded in the fill section. Older
tower systems may feature splash bars made of plastic,
fiberglass, or wood that serve to break the falling water into
tiny droplets. In recent years, many different forms of
labyrinth-like packing or film fill have been incorporated.
The closely packed nature of film fill causes the water to
travel through this portion of the tower in thin streams,

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 562

International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

The significant factors responsible the performance of For measurement of different parameter different instrument
cooling towers, are: are used. To measure twb and tdbsling psychomotor or
whirling pyschrometer is used. For inlet and outlet water
Capacity of cooling tower : C in TR temperature i.e. t1 and t2 digital thermometer is used. For
Average Cold Water Wwater pump head and flow characteristics are used.
0
Temperature : t2 in C
Average Hot Water Tabulation:
0
Temperature : t1 in C
Ambient wet bulb temperature : twb in 0
C Particular Unit Design Actual value / Calculations
Ambient Dry Bulb Value Cell Cell Cell Cell
0
Temperature : tdb in C I II III IV
Total Cooling Water
C
Flow : Wwater in m3/hr TR - 10000 10000 10000 10000

t2
1. Range “R” = t1 - t2 0
C 38 35.0 35.0 35.0 35.0
2. Approach “A”= t2 - twb
3. Cooling tower effectiveness, t1 0
C 45 40.1 39.7 39.7 39.8

Range twb
ɛ= 𝑥 100% 0
C 27 28.5 28.5 28.5 28.5
Range + Approach
tdb 0
C - 34.2 34.2 34.2 34.2
4. Total Heat Load handled by Cooling Tower,
THL = ( Wwaterx R x 103) /3025.9729503365 TR Wwater
m3/hr 8050 2012.5 2012.5 2012.5 2012.5
5. Evaporation loss is the water quantity evaporated for
cooling duty and, theoretically, for every 10, 00, 000 R 0
kCal heat rejected, evaporation quantity works out to 1.8 C 15 5.1 4.7 4.7 4.8
m3. An empirical relation used often is:
A
Evaporation Loss (m3/hr), 0
C 4 6.5 6.5 6.5 6.5
EL = 0.00085 x 1.8 xWwaterx R
6. %EL = (EL / Wwater )x 100. ɛ 43.97 41.96 41.96 42.48
% -

THL
TR 40000 3391. 88 3125. 85 3125. 85 3192. 36

EL
m3/hr - 15.7 14.47 14.47 14.78

%EL
% - 0. 78 0. 72 0. 72 0. 73

Now if we consider the range, total water flow, cold water

temperature wet bulb temperature for each cell, and having
same capacity then we can establish generalized performance
characteristic curves. This curve gives an idea about the
interrelation between all the above mentioned parameters.

Fig. 4. Relation between t2 andtwb for each cell since they

Fig. 3.Mmeasurement of different parameters have same Wwater.

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 563

International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

IV. ELEMENTS INFLUENCES COOLING TOWER heat exchange and turbulence in water effecting
PERFORMANCE ESTIMATION thoroughness of intermixing.
 Due to fewer requirements of air and pumping head,
A. Capacity utilization there is a tremendous saving in power with the
intervention of film fill.
 Capacity, in terms of heat dissipation (in kCal/hour)
and circulated flow rate (m3/hr) are an indication of  Recently, low clog film fills with higher flute sizes
the capacity of cooling towers. have been developed to handle high turbid waters.

B. Range V. ROOTS OF LOW COOLING TOWER

 Determined by the process it is serving. PERFORMANCE
 Determined by heat load and water circulation rate. Sinking energy outflows for cooling tower may be as simple
 Thus Range: f (Heat load & water circulation rate) as regular maintenance. Proper maintenance will optimize
 Wet Bulb temperature: design range is specified at heat transfer and help to upgrade cooling tower performance.
certain twb . Cooling towers expose the cooling water directly to
 The closer the approach to thetwb, the more the atmosphere. The warm cooling water is sprayed over
expensive the cooling tower due to increased size. a fill in the cooling tower to increase the contact area,
and air is blown through the fill. The bulk of heat
C. Wet Bulb Temperature removed from the cooling water as a result of
evaporation. The remaining cooled water drops into a
 twb of air entering the cooling tower determines
collection basin and is recirculate to the chiller. An
operating temperature levels throughout the plant,
inadequately maintained cooling tower will produce
process or system.
warmer cooling water, causing in a condenser
 Recirculation raises the effective twb of the air
temperature 258.15 kelvin to 260.92 kelvin higher than a
entering the tower with corresponding increase in
properly maintained cooling tower. This lessens the
cold water temperature.
efficiency of the chiller, wastes energy, and escalations in
charge. Furthermore, a poorly maintained cooling tower
D. Approach and Flow
will have a shorter operating life, needs overpriced
 Approach is dependent on twb of air entering the
repairs, and undependable. The performance of a cooling
cooling tower.
tower reduces when the efficiency of the heat transfer
 The closer the approach to the wet bulb, the more process drops. Some of the common causes of this dreadful
expensive the cooling tower due to increased size. condition comprise:
 Water circulation rate is directly proportional to the
heat load. A. Deposition of Scale:
When water evaporates from the cooling tower, it leaves
E. Range, Flow and Heat Load scale deposits on the surface of the fill due to the minerals
 Range is a direct function of the quantity of water that were dissolved in the water. Raw water contains varying
circulated and the heat load. amounts of mineral salts such as calcium, magnesium, iron
 Increasing the range as a result of added heat and silica. When these minerals exceed their solubility point
requires an increase in tower size. due to increased cycles of concentration, the minerals
 If the hot water temp is constant and the range is precipitate out of solution and produce scale forming salts.
specified with a lower cold water temp, then the Scale build-up turns as a barrier to heat transfer from the
tower size required for such applications would water to the air. Too much scale build-up is a signal of water
increase considerably. treatment complications. It is essential to maintain a proper
bleed-off schedule to prevent excessive over cycling.

F. Approach and Wet Bulb Temperature B. Blocking of Spray Nozzles:

 Design twb is determined by the geographical Due to water treatment complications Algae and sediment
location. gather in the water basin in addition to excessive solids get
 Usually the twb selected should not exceed 5% of the into the cooling water and can block the spray nozzles.
time in that area. Results, irregular water distribution over the fill, resulting in
 Higher twb, smaller the tower required to give a irregular air flow through the fill and reduced heat transfer
specified approach to the wet bulb at a constant surface area. Air Flow complications Poor air flow through
range and flow rate. the tower reduces the amount of heat transfer from the water
to the air. Poor air flow can be caused by debris at the inlets
or outlets of the tower or in the fill. In addition to due to poor
G. Fill Media Effects
fan performance causing reduced air flow and ultimately
 Function: Heat exchange between air and water is
leads to motor or fan failure.
influenced by surface area of heat exchange, time of

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 564

International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

C. Weak Pump Performance: • Bleed-off or Blowdownis the continuous or intermittent

An indirect cooling tower uses a cooling tower pump. wasting of a small fraction of circulating water in order to
Appropriate water flow is significant to achieve optimum prevent concentration of chemicals in water. The purpose of
heat transfer. Loose connections, failing bearings, blow-down in water cooling apparatus is to reduce soluble
cavitation’s, clogged strainers, excessive vibration, and non- solids or hardness. This reduces the scale-forming tendencies
design operating conditions give rise to reduced water flow, of water. Optimize blow down rate as per Cycles of
reduced efficiency, and early equipment failure. concentration limit. An excellent chemical water treatment
regimen is your first step in reducing bleed-off. As water
D. Minimizing Corrosion: circulates through the cooling system and a portion is
Corrosion of cooling towers can be very costly in terms of evaporated in the cooling tower, the concentration of solids –
service disruption, loss of production, increased maintenance minerals, organics, contaminants and corrosives – increases
and capital equipment replacement. Applying a properly until it reduces efficient performance and can damage your
designed chemical water treatment program is the simplest equipment .Water use can be minimizing by adopting zero
method of preventing these corrosion problems. Raw water blowdown technology (ZBT).
quality must be taken into consideration when determining
the most effective type of treatment program. • Installing Fibre Reinforced Plastic blades in place of
aluminum metallic blades for cooling fans. Fiber reinforced
E. Avoidance of Fouling plastic (FRP) blades are normally hand molded which makes
Air contains particles of dust and dirt of various kinds it easier to produce an optimum aerodynamic profile tailored
causing recirculating water to become contaminated with a to specific duty conditions. A significant efficiency can be
variety of materials. This creates fouling on the inside achieved with blades with an aerodynamic profile, optimum
surfaces and leads to corrosion and loss of cooling transfer twist, taper and a high coefficient of lift to coefficient of drop
efficiency. Since towers contain warm water, are open to ratio. However, this efficiency is drastically affected by
sunlight, trap a variety of life forms and nutrient sources, factors such as tip clearance, obstacles to airflow and inlet
they are perfect breeding grounds for algae, fungi and shape, etc.
bacteria. Implementing a properly designed treatment
program of microorganism is most effective in controlling
biological fouling.

VI. ENERGY EFFICIENT COOLING TOWER

OPPORTUNITIES
As technology is changing daily, it will be very useful to
estimate if it is possible to increase the heat capacity of the
existing cooling system with or without some reasonable
investment, which will ultimately affect energy consumption.
Actually, the first energy efficiency measure is to increase
the efficiency of the existing plant by improving the
maintenance procedures and by implementing new proven
technology in the current energy system.

Key energy efficient cooling tower opportunities are:

• Replace splash fills which are generally made wood or

plastic (recently used) with self-extinguishing poly vinyl
chloride (PVC) cellular film fill or hybrid fills which have
less pressure drop, less fouling and easy to clean.
• Incorporation of thermostatic controls for fan operation.
Implementation of variable speed drives control systems for
pumps and fans.
• By using electromagnetic valve proper cooling scheduling
can be achieve.
• Install new nozzles having low back pressure and durable
light hard anodized construction having ball valve for flow
control to obtain a more uniform water pattern.

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 565

International Journal For Technological Research In Engineering
Volume 1, Issue 8, April-2014 ISSN (Online): 2347 - 4718

REFERENCES
[1] Kreith Ed. Frank, “The CRC Handbook of Thermal
Engineering”, Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 2000.
[2] Nag P.K., “Power Plant Engineering”, 3rd edition,
TataMcGraw-Hill.
[3] Arora, C.P. (2000) Refrigeration and Air Conditioning,
TataMcGraw-Hill.
[4] Kloppers, J C, Kröger, D G, 2004, A critical investigation
into the heat and mass transfer analysis of cross flow wet-
cooling towers, Numerical Heat Transfer, Vol. 46, pp. 785–
806.
[5] Baker Donald (1984) “Cooling Tower Performance”
Chemical Publishing Co, N.Y.
[6] A.I. Petruchik, A.D. Solodukhin, N.N. Stolovich, S.P.
Fisenko, toward the analysis of experimental data onthermal
• Consider Cycles of concentration improvement measures
efficiency of evaporative cooling tower, Appl.Energy:
for water savings. Maximizing cooling tower cycles offers
Russian J. Fuel Power Heat Sys. 37 (6) (2000) 142–149.
many benefits in that it reduces water consumption,
[7] Zivi, S M and Brand, B B, 1956, An analysis of the
minimizes waste generation, decreases chemical treatment
Crossflow Cooling Tower, Refrig. Eng., Vol. 64, pp. 31–34,
requirements, and lowers overall operating costs.
90–92.
• Efficiency estimation of Cooling Tower pumps per monthly
[8] Donald R. Baker, Howard A. Shryock “A
basis.
Comprehensive Approach to the Analysis of Cooling Tower
• Installing and improving the design of drift eliminators the
Performance”.
drift loss can be minimize.
[9] Fisenko S.P, Solodukhin A.D. “Evaporative cooling of
• Proper measurement of the parameters will give a less
water in a natural draft cooling tower”, International Journal
errors in results. This helps in proper maintenance and
of Heat and Mass Transfer (2002).
controlling, as a result better performance.
• In the case of more than one cooling tower cell like four cell
cooling tower, sequential control has to be used. It can be
done manually or automatically.

VII. CONCLUSION
It is seen that the wet bulb temperature for each cell is 28.5
0C and cold water temperature is 35 0C. Approach for each
cell is estimated 6.5 while design value is 4. Theoretically, a
cooling tower will cool water to the entering wet bulb
temperature, when operating without a heat load. However, a
thermal potential is required to reject heat, so it is not
possible to cool water to the entering air wet bulb
temperature, when a heat load is applied. Always cold water
temperature low enough to exchange heat, this affects cost
and size of the cooling tower. For meeting the heat load, few
modifications would be needed to increase the water flow
through the tower. The use of cooling towers is a key strategy
in reducing energy use in many cooling systems. But this
energy efficiency is traded off for increased water use over
sensibly cooled systems. With cooling towers being
responsible for a sizeable percentage of water consumption,
water conservation through its monitoring and maintenance is
a smart choice. Monitoring plays the role of recording
baseline information while also allowing building operators
to monitor the physical components of the cooling tower and
implement improvements to increase water and energy
efficiency. Potential cost savings vary from plant to plant,
depending on the cost for raw water, waste disposal costs,
chemical treatment quantities, and energy.

www.ijtre.com Copyright 2013.All rights reserved. 566