Cooling Tower

P R E S E N T E D B Y: A B D U R A Z A K M O H A M M E D
ENERGY AUDITING AND LICENSING TEAM LEADER

February 2024
Outline

 Understanding cooling tower

 Working principle
 Components of cooling tower
 Types of cooling tower
 Applications of cooling tower
 Energy loss in cooling tower
 Energy performance of cooling tower
 Energy saving in cooling tower
 How to conduct energy audit on cooling tower?

Understanding the cooling tower

 It is heat exchanger:
 Direct contact of air and water

 Purpose: reduce water temperature

 How cooling occurs?

 Spraying water down through the tower + Air from
sides/top of the tower
 The heat is transferred from water droplet to the
surrounding air by both;
 sensible heat and
 latent heat transfer process.
 Latent heat: heat transferred due to evaporation of water
 Phase change: liquid to vapour
 No Temperature change of the water droplets
 Sensible heat: Heat due to temperature difference
 Temperature change
 No phase change
 Water temperature decreases due to temperature
difference between air and water
 Therefore, Cooling the water in cooling tower means
 Latent heat transfer due to evaporation

 Sensible heat transfer due to the temperature

difference between air and water.
 Latent heat:
 Is the heat captured in the air as water undergoes phase
change from liquid to vapor via evaporation or boiling.

 Sensible heat:
 Is the heat in the air and relates directly to dry bulb
temperature.
 For example, heat added to an air mass from the glowing coil
of an electric cooking range/stove is an example of sensible
heat.
Components of cooling tower

 Fan with motor: It is a component used to cause air draft.

 Spray Nozzles: harness/restrict the power to distribute
water.
 Louvers: to eliminate the splash out of hot water from
where the air enters (side or bottom) the cooling tower.
 Drift Eliminators: to capture the large water droplets in
the cooling tower air stream and minimize the loss of process
water.
 Fill Media (heat exchanger), distribution valves,
cold water basin and water distribution piping
 Fill Fan Nozzles

Drift Eliminators cold water basin

Louvers
Types of cooling tower

 The types of cooling towers are identified by draft

mechanism or direction of airflow
 Natural draft cooling tower Natural
 Forced draft cooling towers

 Induced Draft Cooling Towers Mechanical

 Crossflow Cooling Towers
 Counter flow Cooling Towers Direction of airflow
Natural draft cooling tower

 Uses the exhaust air rising in a tall chimney to

provide the draft.
 The tower operates by removing waste heat by way of
rising hot air that is then released into the
atmosphere without fan.
 Warm, moist air naturally rises due to the density
differential to the dry, cooler outside air.
 High Efficiency: These towers are highly
efficient for large-scale heat dissipation than
mechanical draft.
Induced draft cooling tower

 Have fans that are typically mounted on top of the

unit and pull air through the fill media.
 The high exiting air velocities reduce the chance of
re-circulation.
 To avoid the entrapment of water droplets in the
leaving stream air, drift eliminators are used.
 Induced draft towers are more efficient as they use
30% to up to 75% less energy compared to forced
draft designs.
Crossflow cooling tower

 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 basins mounted at the
top of the unit above the fill.
 Hot water flows downward from distribution basins.
Counter flow cooling tower

 Are designed so that air flows vertically upward,

counter to the flow of falling water in the fill.
 Instead, counter flow 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.
Forced draft cooling tower

 Conversely, air is pushed by blowers located at the

base of the air inlet face on forced draft towers.
 The basic difference from induced draft is that the
air-moving fan is placed at the base of the cooling
tower.
 Their use is limited due to
 Water distribution challenges
 High horsepower fans, and
 The possibility of re-circulation is high
Applications of cooling tower : Chiller Application
Blow Molding and Compression Molding Machine
Machinery for die casting
 Expelling facility or building heat into the
atmosphere and returning colder water to the chiller.
 A water cooling tower receives warm water from a
chiller (condenser part).
 The machines and processes in industries that
generate tremendous amounts of heat must be
continuously cooled so that those machines can
continue to operate efficiently.
 The most efficient, effective, and least expensive
solution to removing this heat is the installation of an
industrial cooling tower.
Advantage-Monitoring energy efficiency

 It is crucial to monitor your cooling tower efficiency

so your facility can:
 Save energy
 Extend the equipment service life
 Reduce the amount of water being consumed
 Decrease the number of chemicals needed for
water treatment
 Lower the overall operating costs
Terminology – Energy efficiency

 Range (ΔT):
 The range is the difference between the water temperatures at
the inlet and the outlet of the cooling tower (t in – t out).
 Approach:
 The approach is defined as the difference between the water
temperature at the tower outlet (t out) and the wet-bulb
temperature of the inlet air ( T w, in).
 The approach represents the cooling tower capability.

 In general, the larger the tower, the smaller is the approach.

 Wet-bulb temperature of the inlet air ( T w, in):
 Measures how much water vapor the atmosphere can hold at current
weather conditions.
 A lower wet bulb temperature means the air is drier and it can hold
more water vapor than it can at a higher wet bulb temperature.
 Water temperature:
 It is the temperature at the inlet and the outlet of the cooling tower.
 Cooling tower efficiency:
 It is the ratio of actual cooling (range) to the theoretically possible
maximum cooling (that is, when the approach is zero).
Performance of cooling tower
 Approach= Cold Water Temperature−Wet Bulb
Temperature
 Range = Hot Water Temperature −Cold Water
Temperature
 Cooling Tower Efficiency= (Hot Water Temperature−Cold
Water Temperature)×100/(Hot Water Temperature−Wet
bulb temperature)

 Cooling Tower Efficiency=Range/(Range+

Approach)×100
Factors affecting the performance of cooling
tower

 Capacity: stated in kCal/hour, flow rate (m3/hr) and

size of cooling tower
 Range: ∆T between the hot water inlet and cold water outlet at
the tower.
 Heat load: determined by the process being served
 Thermal load or heat power to be dissipated
 The heat output of the cooling water is determined by the
standard heat transfer equation:
Q = m Cp ∆T
 Approach: How closely the leaving cold water
temperature approaches the entering air wet bulb
temperature is
 It is a controlling factor from the aspect of minimum
cold water temperature to which water can be cooled
by the evaporative method.
 Fill media effects: Power savings in a cooling
tower, with use of efficient fill design, is directly
reflected.
 Cooling Tower System High-Efficiency Parts

 Chemical water treatment: If the metal surface is

corroded, scaled, or has biofilm, it will be much less efficient.
 Size of the cooling tower: It is important to size cooling
towers correctly.
 Fan size and place to be located
 Energy efficient fills and nozzles
Energy efficiency

 Theoretically, an approach of zero means the tower is

100% efficient.
 Industrial cooling towers typically have an approach
temperature between 4° and 8.5°C, and an efficiency
between 70 and 75% ; in this case, the efficiency is
75%.
Energy saving in cooling tower

 Control to the optimum water temperature as

determined from cooling tower and chiller
performance data.
 Control cooling tower fans based on leaving water
temperatures.
 Use variable-speed drives for cooling tower fan
control if there are few.
 Controlling fans based on weather condition.
 Stage the cooling tower fans with on-off control if
there are many.
 Turn off unnecessary cooling tower fans when loads
are reduced.
 Cover hot water basins (to minimize algae growth
that contributes to fouling)
 Periodically clean plugged cooling tower water
distribution nozzles.
 Assessing and installing new nozzles to obtain a
more-uniform water pattern.
 Optimize cooling tower fan blade angle on a
seasonal and/or load basis.
 Correct excessive and/or uneven fan blade tip
clearance and poor fan balance.
 Protect leaking cooling tower cold water basins.
 Install interlocks to prevent fan operation when
there is no water flow.
 Establish a cooling tower efficiency-maintenance
program.
 Shut off loads that are not in service.
 Start with an energy audit and follow-up, then make
a cooling tower efficiency-maintenance program a
part of your task.
  So…..
 Start with an energy audit and follow-up, then
make a cooling tower efficiency-maintenance
program a part of your continuous energy
management program.

How?
How to conduct energy audit?

 First Prepare the checklist and

 Fill the necessary data
 Sample nameplate
 Analyzing the data
 Calculating efficiency
 Recommendation to improve the efficiency
 Energy saving potential
 Investment
 Report format for chiller
 During the performance evaluation, portable
monitoring instruments are used to measure the
following parameters:
■ Wet bulb temperature of air
■ Dry bulb temperature of air
■ Cooling tower inlet water temperature
■ Cooling tower outlet water temperature
■ Exhaust air temperature
■ Electrical readings of pump and fan motors
■ Water flow rate
■ Air flow rate
Report format

1. Cooling tower
1. General Description
2. Observation, Analysis and saving potential
Table: Design specification of all cooling

No Cooling Application Design parameters

tower type
1 Design
1. Measured values of cooling tower
No Cooling tower application Measured values
type/name
1

2. Performance evaluation of cooling tower

No Cooling Measured parameters Efficiency

tower
type/name
1
1. Energy conservation proposal
1. Recommendation: improve the efficiency/reduce loss
2. Energy saving potential/investment/
Thank you!!