Have you ever wondered what technology advances that make cooling towers work? In this article, we’ll cover the tech that run cooling towers in brief. Read on.
Cooling towers are heat rejection devices, which work on the principle of the evaporative cooling process for emitting waste heat to the environment. Waste heat comes into a cooling tower as warm water. This water is distributed through the tower and air is drawn into this tower at the same time. A small part of the water evaporates due to this mixing of water and air and removes the heat from the warm water. The heat is then transferred into the atmosphere after it comes out from the top of the cooling tower. The cold water this produced is then re-circulated through the heat source once again. Thus, it is a continuous process.
These towers are a special kind of heat exchanger, which enables air and water to be in contact with one another to bring down the hot water’s temperature. In this process, water evaporates in a small volumes, reducing its temperature. The water is circulated through the entire cooling tower. the colder water is pumped back to the condenser or the equipment or process, which absorbs heat. The loop is continuously repeated so that condensers or heated equipment can be cooled down constantly.
To put it simply, cooking towers can cool down water, which becomes hot due to industrial processes and equipment.
How does a cooling tower work?
Although there are various kinds of cooling towers available on the market, their working principles are not different at all. A majority of cooling towers operate on a principle called “evaporative cooling”.
Cooling towers are mainly used for air conditioning, ventilation, and heating applications. These are also used in various industrial applications. These towers offer an energy-efficient and cost-effective operation of different systems that get heated up and need cooling. HVAC systems are usually used in huge office buildings, hospitals, and schools. What you should make sure is the cooling tower maintenance to keep those running efficiently and effectively.
So, what is evaporative cooling all about? It is a process wherein heated water from industrial processes gets pumped up and flows to the cooling tower’s top. The water distribution system, of the tower, is set at the top. Cooking tower nozzles then distribute the water to the wet deck. Air is simultaneously drawn through its air-inlet lovers compelling water to evaporate. The removal of the heat from the water takes place through evaporation. Additionally, the hot air will automatically come out of the tire.
Cooling towers are of two kinds- counterflow and crossflow
1. Counterflow
The water and airflow parallel to each other in vertically opposite directions in the design of a counterflow cooling tower. Air comes into the cooking tower through air inlets before getting drawn up vertically. Meanwhile, water gets sprayed through nozzles located at the tower top, it then flows downward. You will come across counterflow towers more than crossflow cooling towers. The reason for this is its reduced pumping expenses. Water gets pumped to a lower height as compared to a crossflow tower of similar size.
2. Crossflow
The airflow and the water flow are perpendicular to one another in this type of cooling tower design. The distributes water flows downward via the fill. At the same time, the flow of the air is horizontal through the fill, A crossflow tower’s physical footprint is smaller as compared to a counterflow tower if a similar capacity. These are thus preferred in sites with a limited space.
