System Design Aspects of Cooling Towers For Power Stations: Project Engineering Management, Noida

Project Engineering Management , Noida
SYSTEM DESIGN ASPECTS

OF COOLING TOWERS
FOR POWER STATIONS
BY VISHAL Kr. YADAV

MECHANICAL SYSTEM ENGINEERING DEPT.
Cooling Tower 1
SYSTEM DESIGN ASPECTS OF COOLING TOWER FOR POWER STSTIONS, ONLINE PRESENTATION on 31 ST Mar , 2020
TOPICS
• Introduction
• Cooling Tower in Power Station
• Types of Cooling Tower
• Cooling Tower Design
• Important Design Aspects of Cooling Tower
• Depackaging of Cooling Tower
• List of Cooling Towers executed/ under execution
2
INTRODUCTION
A cooling tower is a heat exchanger, which transfers the

heat energy gained by Cooling Water in Condenser to the
atmosphere by cooling the water stream to a lower
temperature. The type of heat rejection in a cooling tower is
termed "evaporative" in that it allows a small portion of the
water being cooled to evaporate into a moving air stream to
provide significant cooling to the rest of that water stream.
The heat from the water stream transferred to the air
stream raises the air's temperature and its relative humidity
to 100%, and this air is discharged to the atmosphere.
3
COOLING TOWER – AN IMPORTANT PACKAGE AS

PER MOEF NORMS
• The circulating water system in a power plant may be of
once through type or closed cycle recirculating type
using cooling tower.
• As per MOE&F’s stipulation dated 2.1.1999, the power
plants installed after 1.6.1999 and based on fresh water
sources are not permitted for adoption of once through
condenser cooling system keeping in view thermal
pollution aspects of the source water body.
• The new environmental standards notified in 2015
envisages that all plants with once through cooling shall
switch to CT based.
4
COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION
• Cooling tower is an important element of the power plant

performance.
• Cooling Tower affects the condenser back pressure.
• Condenser back pressure is impacted by inlet cooling water

temperature and temperature rise across condenser.
• Higher cooling water inlet temperature increases the condenser

back pressure and hence, in turn deteriorates plant efficiency
5
Thermal power plants are based on Rankine cycle. In this cycle, to

achieve maximum work output/ maximum efficiency from the
steam turbine the Steam should enter the turbine at highest
possible pressure and temperature and should exit the Turbine at
the lowest possible pressure and temperature.

The lowest possible pressure at turbine exhaust is the saturation
pressure of Condensate in the Condenser and is dependent on the
temperature of hot cooling water exiting from the Condenser,
which in turn is dependent on the Cooling water inlet temperature
and temperature rise of the cooling Water across Condenser.
Please refer the temperature sketch as below:
6
7

For a typical 660 MW set, the effect of CW inlet temperature on TG cycle heat rate is tabulated below:
CW INLET TEMP CONDENSER BACK EFFECT ON HEAT

(OC) PRESSURE (mm Hg) RATE * (KCAL/ KWH)
33.0 66.6 Base

33.5 68.35 Base + 1.78
34.0 70.14 Base + 3.56
34.5 71.97 Base + 5.34
35.0 73.84 Base + 7.12
35.5 75.75 Base + 8.9
36.0 77.7 Base + 10.68
(*) Considering all other parameters such as condenser surface area, tube cleanliness factor,
temperature rise etc as constant for all above cases. 8
Cooling Tower performance:
The Performance of Cooling Tower is critical for power

plant efficiency/ heat rate as increase in Cold Water
temperature by even 0.1 deg C results in LD value of
approx. 3-4 Cr (for a typical 800 MW project) on
account of increase in heat rate.
9

In Cooling water system envisaged with evaporative Cooling
Towers, Cold Water is pumped from Cooling Tower basin to the
Condenser. The Cold water absorbs the heat from Condensing
steam and warms up. This warm water is returned to the cooling
tower.

10

The warm water is made to fall through the fill system in the cooling
tower wherein, it contacts the ambient air rising up through the
cooling tower either by Natural draft or Induced draft by use of
large fans in the tower. This contact causes a small amount of
water to evaporate and some of the water to be lost as drift . The
heat required to evaporate the water is derived from the water
itself, which cools the water to the basin cold water temperature.
The evaporated water in the Cooling Tower leaves its dissolved

salts behind in the bulk of the water, which has not been
evaporated, thus raising the salt concentration in the circulating
water. Cycles of concentration represent the accumulation of
dissolved materials in the recirculating cooling water. To prevent
the salt concentration of the water from becoming too high, a
portion of the water is drawn off for Disposal (Blow down).
11

Fresh Water make- up (M) is supplied to the CW system
to compensate for the loss of evaporated water (E), the
drift loss (D) and the Blow-down water (BD).
A water balance for evaporative cooling system is:

M = E + D + BD
Blowdown from the cooling system for a specified cycle

of concentration (COC) is:
BD = {E/(COC-1) } – D
For a typical 800 MW, CW flow rate is approximately

90000 M3/Hr. The evaporation & drift loss is approx.
1400 M3/Hr (approx. 1.6% of circulating water flow rate).
12
WATER BALANCE OF TYPICAL 1X800 MW TPP

CW ASH
BLOW HANDLING
332 M3/Hr. DOWN + PLANT
RAW (550 M3/Hr)
WATER
SPECIFIC WATER CONSUMPTION = 2.78 M3/MWHr)
(682
M3/Hr) CHP DS
350 M3/Hr
(132 M3/Hr)
(1750 M3/Hr)
CW M/U
RAW WATER (2226 M3/Hr)
CLARIFIED WATER
(1894 M3/Hr)
DRINKING
WATER (2
M3/Hr)
SERVICE
WATER (112
M3/Hr)
DM WATER POWER
(30 M3/Hr) CYCLE M/U (30
M3/Hr) 13
WATER REQUIREMENT OF COOLING TOWER
The evaporation, blow down and drift losses of Cooling Towers

comprises of major portion of the power plant water requirement
(approx 80%).
The Cooling towers are therefore critical equipment from water

consumption point of view and it is a challenge to adopt Cooling
towers. The new MOEF guidelines have drastically limited the
water consumption of Thermal power plant.
For eg. a typical 800 MW TPP requires approx. 2.78 M3/ Hr. of
Consumptive water, out of same Evaporation, blow-down and drift
losses of cooling tower is 2.2 M3/ Hr.
14
TYPES OF COOLING TOWER
Cooling Towers are generally of Two types based on

method of drawing air through the tower:
a) Natural draft:
Utilizes buoyancy effect of a tall chimney. Warm, moist
air naturally rises due to the density differential to the
dry, cooler outside air. Warm moist air is less dense
than drier air at the same pressure. This warm moist
air buoyancy produces a draft of air through the tower.
Natural draft cooling towers are of Hyperbolic shape
because of their structural strength and minimum
usage of material.
15
NATURAL DRAFT COOLING TOWER 16

b) Mechanical draft:
uses electric motor driven fans to force or draw air through the
tower. These are further of two types:
Induced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a fan at the

discharge which pulls/ Induces air through 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.
Forced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a blower type fan at

the intake. The fan forces air into the tower, creating high
entering and low exiting air velocities. The low exiting velocity is
much more susceptible to recirculation.
17
INDUCED DRAFT COOLING TOWER 18

Cooling Towers are of Two types based on direction of air

flow and water flow through the tower:
a) Crossflow: is a design in which the air flow is directed

perpendicular to the water flow (see diagram below). Air
flow enters one or more vertical faces of the cooling tower
to meet the fill material. Water flows (perpendicular to the
air) through the fill by gravity. The air continues through the
fill and thus past the water flow into an open plenum area.
A distribution or hot water basin consisting of a deep trough
with nozzles in the bottom is utilized in a crossflow tower.
Gravity distributes the water through the nozzles uniformly
across the fill material. 19
CROSS FLOW COOLING TOWER 20

b) Counter flow:
In a counter flow design the air flow is directly opposite to

the water flow (see diagram below). Air flow first enters an
open area beneath the fill media and is then drawn up
vertically. The water is sprayed through pressurized
nozzles and flows downward through the fill, opposite to the
air flow.
21
22
Both cross flow and counter flow designs can be used in natural draft
and mechanical draft cooling towers.

Cooling Towers are further of Two types based on types of fill used:

To achieve better performance in a cooling tower, a medium called fill is
used to increase the surface area and the time of contact between the
air and water flows.

a) Splash type fill: consists of material placed to interrupt the water flow
causing splashing.
b) Film type fill: is composed of thin sheets of material (usually PVC)
upon which the water flows.
23
The cooling Tower comprises of:

• CT fans with Gear box, Drive shaft and Drive Motors (not applicable
for Natural draft type CT).
• Drift eliminators.
• Hot water distribution system with nozzles.
• Film type Fills or Splash type fills.
• Cooling tower basin, frame, supporting structures for all the above
equipment.
• Isolation valves in Hot water inlet piping.
• Gates and screens in CT cold water outlet.
• Sludge Pumps for CT basin dewatering.
• Handling arrangement for the equipments.
24
CT FAN ASSEMBLY
25
CT FAN ASSEMBLY
CT DRIVE SHAFT
CT FANS
CT DRIVE MOTOR
CT GEAR BOX
26
DRIFT ELIMINATOR
27
HOT WATER DISTRIBUTION WITH NOZZLES
28
FILLS IN COOLING TOWER
FILM FILLS
SPLASH FILLS
29
COOLING TOWER DESIGN
The factors governing the Cooling Water outlet temperature from

CT are the Site ambient conditions i.e. the Wet Bulb temperature of
the ambient air entering the Cooling Tower and the approach in the
cooling tower (viz. the Cold water temperature at CT outlet - the
Design inlet air wet bulb temperature).The design inlet air wet bulb
temperature are specified by Customer in their specifications. The
Cooling tower minimum approach are 4 degC for Induced draft
type CTs and 5 degC for Natural draft type CTs.

The temperature rise in Condenser is generally in the range of 8 to
10 deg C and same is the design cooling range for cooling tower.

The water flow rate in the cooling Tower is the summation of
Condenser flow rate and the Auxiliary cooling water flow rate of the
Power plant.
30
Capacity :
• Circulated flow rate (Q)

• Heat Load = (Q x Cp x R)
Heat Load
• Determined by process
• High heat load = large size and cost of cooling tower.
Approach
• Closer to the wet bulb temperature = Bigger size cooling tower
31
HWT – 43 degC
RANGE = 10 DegC
HWT - CWT
CWT – 33 degC
APPROACH = 5 DegC
CWT - WBT
WBT – 28 degC
32
33
IMPORTANT DESIGN ASPECTS
Wet Bulb Temperature
The design Wet Bulb Temperature is selected such that

it is not exceeded for 95 % of the time during summer
months (ie May , June , July .. for Indian conditions)
In a tropical country like India the cooling towers are

designed for a wet bulb temperature of 27 Degc to 29
Degc
34
Effect of Design WBT & Relative Humidity
Natural Draft Towers

• Wet bulb Temperature and Relative Humidity affects
the design of NDCTs.
• A high wet bulb temperature with a low humidity
severely affects the performance of NDCT
Induced Draft Towers

• Wet bulb Temperature affects the design of IDCTs.
• Relative Humidity is not a sensitive design parameter
for IDCTs
35
Type of Fill
• Film Type Fills Can be used when circulating water

quality is good or maintained by suitable water
treatment methods.
• Splash Fills The only choice if the water quality is bad
(High TSS , High TDS, Scaling tendency, Sea Water
CTs etc)
Fill height for a film fill cooling tower is about 1.2 to 1.5 m
compared to 4m to 6m for splash fill towers, which results
in enormous savings in pumping head.
36

Location and Orientation of Cooling Towers
• Free from Obstructions nearby to air entry area

• Recirculation Warm moist air discharged from the
cooling tower mixes with its own or other tower inlet air
increasing the inlet WBT. This Depends on
- No of Towers , Layout, Length of Tower

- Wind rose at design WBT
- Fan Stack Height and Exit Air Velocity
Recirculation allowance over the ambient wet bulb

temperature is considered for IDCTs to take care of
the recirculation effect in Design. 37

Effects of Drift
• Drift Nuisance - Plume / Water Vapor discharge

from towers
• Arcing / Short Circuit in high voltage electrical
equipment / switch yard
• Corrosion in nearby structures , high in sea water
tower
Drift effects can be minimized by selecting high efficient

drift eliminators and locating the cooling tower at a
distance from nearby structures
38

For NDCTs
• To be spaced apart to minimize wind Load due to

turbulence
• BS Code Specifies a minimum spacing 1.5 times
the base diameter between c/c of towers
• For a cluster of towers wind enhancement factor is
arrived from the wind tunnel test
39

For IDCTs
• Longitudnal axis to be oriented along the direction

of Wind during severe Duty condition (viz. Humid
summer months).
• BS Code Specifies a minimum spacing of one
cooling Tower length between nearest edges of
towers to minimise recirculation.
40

The cooling tower design is dependent on many variables
such as water flow rate, design wet bulb temperature of
site, cold water temperature, design relative humidity of
site, hot water temperature, type of fills used for cooling,
design wind velocity for structural design, soil condition
for structural design etc. as explained earlier.
Due to difference in these major variables the sizes of

cooling tower will differ even if power plant rating is same
for example 800MW Kothagudem and 800MW
Wanakbori.
Refer the comparison in next sheet:

41
Parameters 1X800MW 1X800MW

Kothagudem Wanakbori
CT Flow (cub.m/hr.) 90000 92000
Design ambient wet bulb 28 28
temp. (degC)
Cold water temp. (degC) 33 33
Hot water temp. (degC) 42.5 42.5
Cooling Range (degC) 9.5 9.5
Approach (degC) 5 5
Design relative humidity (%) 45 65
Type of fills Splash fill Film fill
Design wind velocity (m/s) 44 39
CT Dia. (m) 140 140
CT height (m) 183 170
Shell thickness (m) 0.3 0.25
Total volume of CT (Cub.m) 11652.5 8716.4
42
COOLING TOWER PERFORMANCE

The single most performance guarantee parameter of
Cooling Tower is the Cold-Water Temperature from CT
outlet.
Other parameter guaranteed are the water handling
capability and pumping head reqmnts.
The PG test of cooling tower is conducted after

successful completion and commissioning of cooling
tower. The PG test is carried out as per Cooling Tower
Institute, Acceptance Test Code 105. The PG test of IDCT
is mostly carried out be CT package Vendor themselves.
NDCT PG test is generally specified to be carried out by
Independent third parties certified by Cooling Tower
Institute themselves. 43
DE-PACKAGING OF COOLING TOWER
 Present Practice of Execution

 Need for Rethink on Present Execution Mode
 Deliberation In PS-HEAD Meet
 Gains From Depackaging
44
PRESENT PRACTICE OF COOLING TOWER

EXECUTION
• Single contract - Turnkey execution or LumpSum Contract.
• Complete Thermal, Hydraulic, Civil design by Turnkey supplier
• Complete supplies, Civil works construction, Erection work of supply
items is on turnkey basis.
• Responsibility of performance guarantee rest with Turnkey supplier.
• Reputed cooling tower companies like M/s Paharpur Cooling towers
Ltd., Hamon thermal, NBCC, BGR Energy Ltd., L&T, Gammon have
complete expertise of NDCT execution.
• Cooling Tower Package is one of the high Value BOP Package in a
Thermal Power Plant ie, one NDCT for 800 MW may cost approx. 90
to 110 Crs.
• The NDCT package completion takes approx. 24 to 28 Months from
LOI. Design & Engineering completion time is 8 to 10 Months from
LOI.
45
Need for rethink on present execution mode:

• Number of Cooling Tower bidders are less and cost competitiveness
is an issue, so mode of working need to be changed. Price quoted
by bidders in different contracts has wide variations.
• The problems faced in recent tenders and associated delays
indicates that immediate measure is required to be taken to change
the mode of design and execution of Cooling Tower.
• Thermal design is bottleneck due to lack of knowhow. Size of
Natural Draft type Cooling Tower (NDCT) is dependent on thermal
design. Thermal design is further dependent on type of fills, water
distribution system and data is not shared by bidder under pretext of
proprietary details.
• To do thermal design for NDCT sizing, all NDCT vendors dependent
on specialized design consultants.
• In present mode of turnkey contracts, lot of time is lost in design and
its approval as the bidder tends to cut their cost.
46
DELIBERATION IN PS-HEAD MEET

1) CT : NDCT. Following are the major aspects:
Cooling tower design contractor shall be appointed through First
Contract for thermal and civil design including performance guarantees,
document approval, BOI specification generation including fills.
• Based on above Second contract for all supplies, civil works,
erection including performance guarantees will be placed on civil
contracting agencies on item rate basis.
Following advantages are likely to accrue if this is adopted:
• Introduction of item rate contract will reduce vendor uncertainties (on
account of design) as in turnkey approach resulting in lowered costs.
• Vendor base will increase bringing competitiveness.
• Early completion of NDCT design.
• It is decided that NDCT will be executed for projects namely
5x800MW Yadadri STPP (SR ) and 1x660MW Panki TPS (NR) as per
above.
47
DELIBERATION IN PS-HEAD MEET

2) CT : IDCT In this package following approach is agreed.
• IDCT Site civil works (based on cooling tower bidder’s design/ drgs) by
BHEL through civil contracting agency under bidder’s supervision.
• IDCT bidder’s scope includes complete design, supplies, civil
construction drawings to enable civil works by BHEL.
• Supplies shall include any specialized construction materials,
shuttering material (including curved section surfaces) etc,
embedment/ inserts. Supervision of civil construction by cooling tower
bidders. Complete erection, commissioning and PG testing at site by
CT bidder.
• The bids will be evaluated based on the cooling tower prices quoted by
the bidder and quantities of concrete & steel used in cooling towers.
The bidders shall furnish quantities of concrete & steel in the price
offer. The evaluation rates for concrete and steel shall be indicated in
NIT.
• It is proposed that IDCT will be executed for current projects namely 48
Yelahanka, Maitree and Rourkela.
SYSTEM DESIGN ASPECTS OF COOLING TOWER FOR POWER STSTIONS, ONLINE PRESENTATION on 31 Mar , 2020
ST
GAINS FROM DEPACKAGING

In Yelahanka Project, Indents with following scope was released:
• IDCT bidder’s scope included complete design, supplies, erection,
commissioning & PG test, civil construction drawings to enable civil
works by BHEL.
• Supplies included specialized construction shuttering material (curved
section surfaces of Fan cylinder).
• The bids were evaluated based on the cooling tower prices quoted by
the bidder and quoted quantities of concrete & steel used in cooling
towers.
Following Gains were achieved:
• The no. of bidders increased from last bid of IDCT on Turnkey basis.
Viz. 6 bidders participated instead of 4 nos earlier.
• There was a saving of approx. 24% in the design, supply, erection,
commissioning & PG test package w.r.t our estimates.
Similar approach is followed in Rourkela project and Maitree project.
49
List Cooling tower executed/ under execution by

BHEL in last 10 - 15 years
S. no. Project Project rating Type of CT
1 Mejia unit 4 1X210 MW IDCT
2 Korba East 2X250 MW IDCT
3 Bellary Unit 1 1X500 MW NDCT
4 Lehra Mohabbat 2X250 MW NDCT
5 Mejia Unit 5&6 2X250 MW IDCT
6 Santaldih Unit 5 1X250 MW IDCT
7 Chandrapura 2X250 MW IDCT
8 Bakreshwar 2X250 MW IDCT
9 Amarkantak 1X210 MW IDCT
10 Bhillai 2X250 MW IDCT
11 Kosti Sudan 4X125 MW IDCT
12 Surat Lignite 2X125 MW IDCT 50

BHEL in last 10 – 15 years
14 Budge Budge 1X250 MW IDCT
15 Mejia B 2X500 MW NDCT
16 Santaldih Unit 6 1X250 MW IDCT
17 Koderma 2X500 MW NDCT
18 Sikka 2X270 MW IDCT
19 Durgapur 2X500 MW NDCT
20 Pipavav CCPP 2X350 MW IDCT
21 Hazira CCPP 1X350 MW IDCT
22 Ukai 1X500 MW NDCT
23 Anpara D 2X500 MW IDCT
24 Pragati III CCPP 2X750 MW IDCT 51

BHEL in last 10 – 15 years
25 Bokaro 1X500 MW NDCT
27 Suratgarh 2X660 MW NDCT
28 Bhadradri 4X270 MW NDCT
29 Kothagudem 1X800 MW NDCT
30 Wanakbori 1X800 MW NDCT
31 Yelahanka 1X370 MW IDCT
32 Rourkela 1X250 MW IDCT
33 Yadadri 5X800 MW NDCT
34 Panki 1X660 MW NDCT
35 Udangudi 2X660 MW NDCT
36 Bhusawal 1X660 MW NDCT 52
THANK YOU
53

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Project Engineering Management , Noida

SYSTEM DESIGN ASPECTS

BY VISHAL Kr. YADAV

A cooling tower is a heat exchanger, which transfers the

COOLING TOWER – AN IMPORTANT PACKAGE AS

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

• Cooling tower is an important element of the power plant

• Cooling Tower affects the condenser back pressure.

• Condenser back pressure is impacted by inlet cooling water

• Higher cooling water inlet temperature increases the condenser

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

Thermal power plants are based on Rankine cycle. In this cycle, to

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

CW INLET TEMP CONDENSER BACK EFFECT ON HEAT

33.0 66.6 Base

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

Cooling Tower performance:

The Performance of Cooling Tower is critical for power

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

The evaporated water in the Cooling Tower leaves its dissolved

COOLING TOWER IN POWER STATION

A water balance for evaporative cooling system is:

Blowdown from the cooling system for a specified cycle

For a typical 800 MW, CW flow rate is approximately

WATER BALANCE OF TYPICAL 1X800 MW TPP

WATER REQUIREMENT OF COOLING TOWER

The evaporation, blow down and drift losses of Cooling Towers

The Cooling towers are therefore critical equipment from water

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

Cooling Towers are generally of Two types based on

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

NATURAL DRAFT COOLING TOWER 16

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

Induced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a fan at the

Forced draft: A mechanical draft tower with a blower type fan at

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

INDUCED DRAFT COOLING TOWER 18

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

Cooling Towers are of Two types based on direction of air

a) Crossflow: is a design in which the air flow is directed

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

CROSS FLOW COOLING TOWER 20

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

In a counter flow design the air flow is directly opposite to

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

TYPES OF COOLING TOWER

The cooling Tower comprises of:

HOT WATER DISTRIBUTION WITH NOZZLES

FILLS IN COOLING TOWER

COOLING TOWER DESIGN

The factors governing the Cooling Water outlet temperature from

COOLING TOWER DESIGN

• Circulated flow rate (Q)

• Closer to the wet bulb temperature = Bigger size cooling tower