Technical Talk On

Evaporative Cooling System

Presented by: Phaddra Wong

MESAN COOLING TOWER LTD.
Agenda
1. Introduction to Cooling Tower
2. Cooling Tower Types
3. Air-cooled vs Water cooled
4. Cooling Tower Design and Selection Principles
5. Testing Methods and Different Standards
6. Q & A / Discussion
1) Introduction to Cooling Tower
The cooling towers work on the principle of evaporative cooling. Cooling
towers offer a proven and cost-effective solution for rejecting heat from
condenser water and industrial processes. During the cooling tower working
process, the condenser water or process water flows directly over the heat
transfer surface of the cooling tower, when the air and water come together,
a small volume of water evaporates creating an action of cooling.

Typical Chiller Plant

2) Types of Cooling Tower
One classification is based on the fans type:

INDUCED DRAFT
• Use propeller or axial fans
• Lower power consumption
• Larger capacity
• Outdoor installation only

FORCED DRAFT
• Use centrifugal fans
• Limited capacity with Higher power
consumption
• Suitable for Indoor/outdoor
or underground installation
2) Types of Cooling Tower
Types of Open Typed Cooling Tower : based on the direction of water and air flows

CROSSFLOW TYPE (Xflow Type):

- Air and water are perpendicular to each other
- Larger footprint per ton
- Two-sides/one side air intake
- Gravity water flow, equals lower pump head,
lower power consumption
- Easy to maintenance

COUNTERFLOW TYPE:
- The air and water flows are parallel and opposite to others
- Smaller footprint, convenient for tight spaces
- Four-sides air intake, increased air inlet height
for multi-cells installation
- Pressurized water flow, higher pump head
2) Types of Cooling Tower

Open and Closed Circuit Cooling Tower

Open cooling towers Closed circuit cooling towers

- condensing water directly contacts - completely isolate condensing water
with atmosphere from the atmosphere.
3) Air-cooled vs Water-cooled
Advantages of water-cooled over air-cooled heat rejection:
1. Condensing temperature in water-cooled chillers is lower than in air cooled ones, by at
least 10°
F or 6°
C. Lower condensing temperatures mean lower energy consumption by the
compressor
2. Evaporative cooling is based on ambient wet-bulb temperature which is always lower than
ambient dry-bulb temp. The lower the WB the more efficient the cooling tower is.
3. Water-cooled chillers are smaller and more compact than air-cooled ones, and can be
installed indoors, protected from the corrosive marine environment.
4. Water is more efficient heat carrying medium than air, by a factor of 4-to-1 (Thermal
Conductivity) and by a factor of 25-to-1 (Specific Heat)

Water versus Air

450mm x 450 mm air duct

19 mm diam. pipe

Water can carry more energy than air, and needs 576 times less area
3) Air-cooled vs Water-cooled
Life-Cycle Costs and Savings Analysis 250-ton cooling system

Air-cooled Water-cooled
IPLV efficiency (kW/ton) 0.83 0.46
Hours/year 2500 2500
Annual energy usage (kW/h): 518,750 287,500
Energy cost (US$/kWh): $ 0.12 $ 0.12
Annual energy cost (US$): $ 62,250.00 $ 34,500.00
Lifetime energy cost (US$): $ 933,750.00 $ 517,500.00
Lifetime energy savings (US$): $ (416,250.00)
Annual make-up water cost (US$) $ - $ 5,175.00
Annual water treatment cost (US$) $ - $ 2,070.00
Cooling tower energy cost (US$): $ - $ 1,725.00
Condensing water pumps energy cost (US$): $ - $ 12,075.00
Annual tower operating costs (US$): $ 21,045.00
Lifetime tower operating costs (US$): $ 315,675.00
TOTAL LIFE-CYCLE SAVINGS: $ (100,575.00)
Analysis based on a 15-year life expectancy and without adjusting for inflation of electrical rate changes

*Analysis is based on a 15-year life expectancy and without adjusting for inflation of electrical rate changes
 3) Air-cooled vs Water-cooled
Other advantages
Life expectancy:
Water-cooled chillers last a lot longer than air-cooled chillers, because the compressors operate
under lower head pressures with indoor installation, protected from aggressive environmental
conditions. In average the service life of a water-cooled chiller is 40% longer than an air-cooled one.

Larger Capacities:
Air-cooled chiller are usually limited to applications below 500 tons, because of their huge size while
water-cooled chillers can easily reach 2,000 tons per unit. With the advent of the new chillers with oil-
less magnetic-bearing compressors, the new chillers can reach unimaginably high efficiencies, and
capacities with compressors running at 30,000 rpm, and these super-efficient chillers are only
available in water-cooled configuration.

Floor space:
Water-cooled chillers are more compact due to the inherently higher energy-carrying capacity of
water as heat transfer medium, compared to the bulky air-cooled chillers with very large condenser
coils and large number of condenser fans

Conclusion : An HVAC cooling tower is used for disposing or rejecting heat from chillers. Air
cooled chillers are less efficient than water cooled chillers due to rejection of heat from
tower water near wet-bulb temperatures.
Comparison between air-cooled and water-cooled

COP Comparison
7
6.2
6 5.8

5 4.6
Air-Cooled Chiller
4 Water-Cooled Chiller
3.2
3 Air-Cooled VRV
Water-Cooled VRV
2

0
4A) Cooling Tower Design Consideration
1. Cooling Range (HWT – CWT)
2. Approach to wet bulb temperature (A = LWT – WBT)
3. Mass flow rate of water
4. Air velocity through tower
5. Liquid-to-gas ration(L/G)
6. Tower Dimension
7. Cost

Other design characteristics to consider :

- Fan horsepower / Pump horsepower / make-up water source / fogging abatement / drift eliminator / Space

Operation Considersations
1. Water make-up

Merkel Equation
1. Sensible heat transfer due to a difference in temperature levels
2. Latent heat equivalent of the mass transfer resulting form the evaporation of a portion of the circulation water
 4A) Cooling Tower Design Consideration
COOLING TOWER EFFICIENCY RELATED CALCULATIONS
Cycles of Concentration (COC) :
- Conductivity (Ca hardness) of cooling water / Conductivity (Ca hardness) of make-up water
It is desirable to reduce the amount of makeup water in the tower, i.e higher values of COC are better. Higher
markup water means increase of the chance of scaling and fouling of the heat transfer components

Evaporation Loss calculation

Evaporation Loss = COC x Range x Cp / Hv
Where : Hv = Latent heat of vaporization of water Cp = specific heat of water
Evaporation Loss = 0.00085 x 1.8 x Circulating water flow

Bleed-off or Blowdown
As the cooling water circulates the cooling tower, part of water evaporates thereby increase the total
dissolved solids in the remaining water. To control the COC blowdown formula :
Blowdown = Evaporation Loss / (COC – 1)

Makeup Water
Makeup Water = Blowdown + Evaporation Loss + Drift Loss
Water losses include evaporation, drift and blowdown (water released to discard solids). Drift losses are estimated
to be between 0.1 to 0.2% of water supply

Note : Install the water flow and conductivity meters to track makeup water and blowdown conductivity
to see how COC is changing. The goal is to minimize blowdown in order to have higher values of COC
result in increasing cooling tower efficiency.
4A) Cooling Tower Design Consideration

COOLING TOWER EFFICIENCY

Cooling tower effectiveness is quantified by the ratio of the actual range
to the ideal range. The efficiency of the cooling tower is negatively
correlated with the WBT of its ambient, since the WBT raises with temp,
hotter climates enforce lower cooling tower efficiencies, which is
compatible with intuition.

- Water savings for increasing cooling tower efficiency

- Cooling tower water treatment (Physical / Chemical)
- Cooling tower control
4B) Cooling Tower Selection Parameters
LWT: Leaving Water Temperature, water leaving the tower towards the
condenser.
EWT: Entering Water Temperature, water coming from the condenser
into the tower
WBT: Wet Bulb Temperature, It’s the LOWEST temperature we can
achieve through evaporation
WFR: Water Flow Rate, usually measured in m3/h L/s or gallons/minute

- Space
- Noise Requirement
- Plume Abatement
- Energy and water conservation
 EWT°

LWT°

WBT° Minimum Approach for CTI certified tower is 5F

(2.8C)
HK USA The smaller the approach, the larger the tower.
Water flow rate Every degree (F) of approach difference,
100 100
(m3/h) translates into about 10% change in tower size

EWT°C 37 37
LWT°C 32 32
WBT°C 28 27
Larger Cooling Tower for Hong Kong
4B) Cooling Tower Selection Parameters
Chiller Plant
4B) Cooling Tower Selection Parameters
Refrigeration Unit:
Refrigeration ton RT 1 RT = 3024 Kcal
Kilowatt Kw 1 Kw= 860 Kcal
Horse Power Hp 1 Hp= 2700 Kcal
Calories Kcal

Condenser
TR Qh = Cw × M × ∆𝑡
Qw =
Qh = 1（𝑲j/kg · h） × 1000Kg × ∆𝑡
Qw ·······Evaporator water flowrate = 1000 × ∆𝑡
TR ·······Required cooling capacity Cw ········Specific heat capacity

Qh ·······Heat rejection rate M ········Water mass

∆𝑡········Temp difference
4B) Cooling Tower Selection Parameters
Sizing the cooling tower

Chillers Capacity:
“ kw ” : Water Flow Rate (m3/h) x Range x 1000 / 816 Enlarge about
“ Ton/ RT” : Water Flow Rate (m3/h) x Range x 1000 / 3024 1.1 times

X1.25
CHILLERS : 5270kw COOLING TOWES : 6588kw
5) Latest International Standards & Codes

19
D. Q & A Discussion