The cooling tower is a cooling instrument that utilizes evaporative cooling of water to cool the hot water in the tower. Cooling water is cleaned and recycled to make maximum use of water resources, decrease the burden on the urban tap water distribution system, and save operational costs.
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The crossflow cooling tower is a type of mechanical draft cooling tower where the upward flow of air cools the hot water dripping down from the top hot water basin onto the bottom cold water basin.
Crossflow cooling tower maintenance is simplified since the distribution system can be sectioned and serviced individually for reducing outages. Air travels horizontally through the fills over the downward fall of water in a cross-flow arrangement. A distribution basin dispenses the hot water so that it falls evenly into the fill through gravity via nozzles or orifices. Gravity removes the need for a pressurized spray system.
This evaporative cooling tower is preferred in most industrial works because of many reasons. Firstly, they have a wide enclosure area due to their design. This means that the crossflow cooling towers have an access door that facilitates examination. Furthermore, the area inside these cooling towers allows for simple access to mechanical components within the cooling tower. Also, as the water runs down the fills only due to gravity’s downward pull, the operation would be feasible for low and high hot water flows. This design also allows for effective functioning in cold regions.
1. Components
All the components in a cross-flow cooling tower serve different purposes. Mentioned below are these elements which are a must in this cooling device.
2. Functioning
The crossflow cooling tower operates on the same principles as other cooling towers. It increases the water surface area as it moves through the fills and cools the water by convective heat transfer to the passing air. The water flows down the fills vertically owing to gravity, but the air comes into touch with it horizontally, giving rise to the term “crossflow.” The inclusion of a hot water basin is a typical technique for constructing the cross-flow cooling tow to ensure that the water falling on the fill medium is uniformly distributed.
3. Space Requirements
A big plan area is required for a cross-flow cooling tower. A cross-flow tower has just two air inlets, making it more suited for places where the installation of large fans may be problematic. Because of the vertical arrangement of the fill, the height of a cross-flow cooling tower is lower. As a result, a cooling tower manufacturer requires a larger surface area but a lower height to set up this type of cooling tower.
4. Maintenance
Crossflow cooling towers are easier to maintain since access to the plenum is possible, allowing for repairs to the interior equipment. Furthermore, the nozzles in the distribution basin are available at all times. Because of the design of crossflow cooling towers, it is possible to enter the mid-plenum and examine the drift eliminators and mechanical equipment from below, even when the tower is in operation. Also, the nozzles for the cooling towers’ cross-flow arrangement can be accessed, inspected, cleaned, and even changed if necessary.
5. Water Distribution
In a cross-flow cooling tower, the process water is pushed to the top of the tower and discharged through nozzles into a hot water basin. The nozzles are gravity propelled, with the key driver being the height of the water above the nozzles. Only the height from the pump to the top of the tower and the friction loss in the pipe, including any flow control valves must be considered while sorting a condenser water pump for a cross-flow cooling tower.
6. Variable Flow and Cold Weather Operation
Using nozzle cups, a crossflow tower can use as little as 30% of the design flow while maintaining uniform water distribution over the fill. A consistent pressure drop over the fill helps manufacturers to correctly estimate the tower’s performance. Furthermore, in cold weather operation, using nozzle cups on the inboard side directs the heat burden to the side of the fill that is exposed to the environment.
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Crossflow cooling towers are more suitable for access to maintenance, variable flow, and cold-weather functioning. When it comes to crossflow cooling towers, serviceability is also a significant plus. This is a major reason why a significant number of industries prefer crossflow cooling towers. Find the best one that works for your industry at Towertech.
Cooling towers offer a proven and cost-effective solution for rejecting heat from condenser water and industrial processes. To maximize the operating cost savings, the fill media—the heat transfer surface that the water flows over—must be properly designed and in good condition.
The fill is the heart of the system, and the performance of the entire system depends on maximizing the surface area of fill, evenly distributing the water across the surfaces, and optimizing the thickness of the water film to perform efficiently.
After years of operation, the fill media can eventually degrade to the point where it must be replaced. Building owners and operators can find it difficult to evaluate the claims by various manufacturers about which type of replacement fill is the best choice.
The ideal way to understand what fill is optimal is through independent research rather than relying on manufacturers promoting their own product. The most objective evaluation would come from an unbiased side-by-side comparison, in a real-life operational situation. The competing products would be observed for years to determine not only how well they perform at the time of installation, but how they stand up over time.
This is exactly what happened when a large professional sports arena in Southern California replaced the fill in its cooling towers. Three Baltimore Aircoil Company (BAC) Series Cooling Towers with a crossflow design had been contributing to the comfort and safety of the patrons of the 20,000-seat arena for 18 years. The cooling towers were performing adequately, but due to their age, it was decided that the fill should be replaced as part of a long-term maintenance plan.
The plan was to replace the fill pack in one cooling tower per year, rather than taking all three towers off-line at once. In the first tower, and then in the second tower a year later, the fill was replaced with BAC’s VersaCross Replacement Fill, a “hanging” style fill that matched the fill originally installed. When it came time to replace the fill in the third tower, the building owner decided to use a competitive product, a “block” style fill.
The BAC Series Cooling Tower has a crossflow design, meaning that the water flows vertically down the fill as air flows horizontally across it. Hot water from the system enters the cooling tower and is distributed over the fill (heat transfer surface). Air is drawn through the fill, causing a small portion of the water to evaporate. This evaporation removes heat from the remaining water, which is collected in the cold water basin and returned to the system to absorb more heat. The BAC Series Cooling Tower was designed to use hanging sheet fill, and BAC VersaCross Replacement Fill is the replacement OEM hanging fill on the market. Long continuous sheets, with patterns embossed to increase surface area, are hung to allow smooth water flow from top to bottom.
The block-style replacement fill is a fundamentally different design. Blocks are comprised of corrugated layers of PVC sheets, with wavy sheets sandwiched between layers of flat sheets. The 12 x 12 x 42-inch blocks are stacked vertically.
BAC raised concerns about whether the block style fill would perform adequately and whether it was compatible with the Series Cooling Tower design. The vertical spacing of block fill is wider than BAC hanging fill, providing less physical surface area than hanging fill. Reduced surface area results in less evaporative cooling.
Another concern was that water would not flow smoothly and evenly through the block fill. Within each block, where the corrugated layers are connected to each other, water flow can be impinged. Moreover, the transition between blocks significantly interrupts the flow.
These connections between the flat pieces and the corrugated layers and the transitions between blocks also tend to trap solids. This can lead to scale buildup and fouling, resulting in unacceptable degradation in performance in just a few years.
After discussion among the building ownership and the installation contractor, the parties agreed that the block fill would be installed and an independent testing company, American Air Balance Co., would be retained by the arena owner to conduct tests comparing the performance of the cell with the block fill to the performance of one of the cells with the VersaCross Fill.
The thermal testing was performed shortly after the block fill was installed. The chosen time was during a Saturday night NHL game because the arena was packed and the spectators were generating a lot of heat. All three cooling towers were running at full speed.
When the two cooling towers were tested, Cooling Tower 1 (CT-1) with block fill performed at 72% of the original fill’s thermal capacity, and Cooling Tower 2 (CT-2) with the VersaCross Fill performed at 96% of the original fill’s thermal capacity.
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