COOLING TOWER

By: ENGR. YURI G. MELLIZA

A Cooling tower is a wind braced enclosure or shell usually made of wood, concrete or metal with fillings on the inside to aid water
exposure. The water to be cooled is pumped into a distributing header at the top of the tower from which it drops in sprays to the
filling. The water spreads out in the filling thus exposing new water surfaces to the air circulating through the tower. The cooled
water drops to the bottom of the tower called the catch basin. The air circulating through the tower becomes partially saturated with
moisture by evaporating some amount of water. This evaporation is mostly what cools the water.

B ma

1
m1

3 A ma
m3
2 catch basin
m2

1. Actual Cooling Range

Actual Cooling Range  t 1  t 2
2. Cooling Tower Approach
Approach  t 2  t WA
3. Cooling Tower Efficiency
t1  t 2
e x100 %
t 1  t WA
t1 - twA = theoretical cooling range
4. Total Pressure
P = Pa + Pv KPa
5. Vapor Pressure
Pv = Pw - PA(td - tw) KPa

where 6.66 x 10 4
A 
(for tw of equal or greater th an 0 C)
C
5.94 x 10 4
A 
(for tw of less than 0 C)
C

6. Specific Humidity or Humidity Ratio

0.622 Pv kgm
W
P  Pv kgda
7. Relative Humidity
Pv
RH  x 100 %
Pd
8. Enthalpy
h = 1.0045td + W[2501.3 + 1.86td] KJ/kgda

9. Specific Volume
0.287 ( t d  273) m 3

10. Degree of Saturation (P  Pv) kgda

 P  Pd 
μ  RH  
 P  Pv 
11. By moisture balance in the tower:
a) With make up water, m1 = m2
m3 = ma(WB - WA) kg/sec
b) Without make up water available, m 1  m2:
m1 - m2 = ma (WB - WA) kg/sec
12. By energy balance in the tower:

a) With make up water

m1 (h1  h 2 )
ma  kg/sec
(h B  h A )  ( WB  WA )h 3
m1h1  m a (h B  h A )  ( WB  WA )h 3 
h2  KJ/kg
m1

b) Without make up water

m1 (h1  h 2 )
ma  kg/sec
(h B  h A )  ( WB  WA )h 2
m1h1  m a (h B  h A )
h2  KJ/kg
m1  m a ( WB  WA )
13. Driving Pressure
gH ρ 0  ρ i 
ΔP  KPa
d 1000
14. Mass Flow rate of air and vapor mixture
m = ma(1+W) kg/sec
m = m a + mv
15. Cooling water flow rate related to Brake Power of an Engine
Brake Power
m w  904.3 L/hr
t1 - t 2
where:
m1 - mass flow rate of water entering tower in kg/sec
m2 - mass flow rate of cooled water in kg/sec
m3 - make up water in kg/sec
h1 - enthalpy of hot water in KJ/kg
h2 - enthalpy of cooled water in KJ/kg
h3 - enthalpy of make up water in KJ/kg
hA - enthalpy of air entering tower in KJ/kgda
hB - enthalpy of air leaving tower in KJ/kgda
WA - humidity ratio of air entering tower in kgm/kgda
WB - humidity ratio of air leaving tower in kgm/kgda
ma - mass flow rate of dry air in kg/sec
td - dry bulb temperature in C
tw - wet bulb temperature in C
t1 - temperature of hot water, C
t2 - temperature of cooled water, C
t3 - temperature of make up water, C
H - tower height, meters
o - density of outside air and vapor mixture, kg/m3
i - density of inside air and vapor mixture, taken at exit of the fill, kg/m 3
Wet - Cooling Tower
Wet cooling tower dissipate heat rejected by the plant to the environment by these mechanisms; (1) addition of sensible heat to the
air (2) evaporation of a portion of the recirculation water itself. When operated in the open mode, there is a third mechanism (3)
addition of sensible heat to the natural body of water as a result of the terminal temperature difference.
Wet cooling tower have a hot water distribution system that showers or sprays the water evenly over a latticework of closely set
horizontals slats or bars called fill, or packing. The fill thoroughly mixes the falling water with air moving through the fill as the
water splashes down from one fill level to the next by gravity. Outside air enters the tower via louvers in the form of horizontal slats
on the side of the tower. The slats usually slope downward to keep the water in. The intimate mix between water and air enhances
heat and mass transfer (evaporation), which cools the water. Cold water is then collected in a concrete basin at the bottom of the
tower where it is pumped back to the condenser or returned to the natural body of water. The now hot, moist air leaves the tower at
the top.

SAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. An atmospheric cooling tower has an efficiency of 50% when handling 4 L/s of water. It is connected to the water cooling
system of an engine developing 56 KW. If the wet bulb temperature is 21C, what are the temperature of the water entering and
leaving the cooling tower. Heating value of fuel is 43 000 KJ/kg, fuel consumption is 0.24 kg/KW-hr, 27 % of total heat value of
fuel goes to jacket water. Assume no heat loss in connections. (27C; 24C)
2. A cooling tower receives 3.2 L/sec of water at 46C. Atmospheric air at 16C DB and 55% RH enters the tower at 3 m3/sec and
leaves at 32C saturated. Determine:
a) the volume of water leaving the tower in L/sec (3.07 L/sec)
b) exit temperature of water in C. (25C)
At 16C and 55% RH: W = 0.0062 kgm/kgda; h = 31.792 KJ/kgda; v = 0.8278 m 3kgda
At 32C and 100% RH: W = 0.030712 kgm/kgda; h = 110.803 KJ/kgda; v = 0.9077 m3/kgda
3. A 600 KW brake power diesel engine with 6 cylinders has a brake thermal efficiency of 32% and a jacket water loss of 30%. It
uses a closed cooling system with a cooling tower 10 m high. The temperature rise after passing the water jacket is 15C and the
cooling tower range is 6C. Calculate:
a) Capacity of jacket water pump in L/sec (9 L/sec)
b) Exhaust loss in KJ/hr if friction, radiation and other losses amounts to 8% (2.02 x106 KJ/hr)
c) Cooling water flow rate in the cooling tower in L/hr (80 L/hr)
d) standard size of electric motor to drive the raw water pump if the total dynamic head is 35 m
and the pump efficiency is 88%. (9 KW)

Example No. 1
A cooling tower receives 3.2 L/sec of water at 46C. Atmospheric air at 16C DB and 55% RH enters the tower at 3 m3/sec and
leaves at 32C saturated. Determine:
a) the volume of water leaving the tower in L/sec (3.08 L/sec)
b) exit temperature of water in C. (25.15C)

Air out
ma
B

Hot Water in 1
m1

Make Up water
A Air In
3
m3 ma
Hot Water out
m2
2
Using Fundamental formulas or Psychrometric chart

At 16C and 55% RH At 32C and 100% RH

kgm kgm
WA  0.00621 WB  0.030712
kgda kgda
KJ KJ
h A  31.792 h B  110.803
kgda kgda
m3 m3
υA  0.8278 υ B  0.9077
kgda kgda

m1 (h1  h 2 )
ma  kg/sec
(h B  h A )  ( WB  WA )h 2
m1h1  m a (h B  h A )
h2  KJ/kg
m1  m a ( WB  WA )

For water @ 46C

kg
ρ  990
m3
L 1m 3 kg kg
m1  3.2 x x 990 3  3.168
sec 1000L m sec
m3 1 kg
ma  3 x 3
 3.62
sec m sec
0.8278
kg
Without considerin g make up water

From steam table at 25.15

2=0.001003 m3/kg
V2=3.079(0.001003)(1000)=3.09 L/sec
Example no. 2
A cooling tower is to be installed in a plant site where the atmospheric pressure is 672 mm Hg. 113 L/sec of water are cooled from
41C to 28C. Air enters the tower at 36C DB at a vapor pressure of 5.2 KPa and leaves saturated at 49C. Assuming make up
water enters the tower at 10 C, Find:
a. weight of air required in kg/sec (39.06 kg/sec)
b. make up water required in kg/sec (2.2 kg/sec)

101.325 KPa At P  89.6 KPa

P  672 mm Hg x
760 mm Hg t B  49C ; PdB  11.738 KPa
P  89.6 KPa RH B  100%
KJ kg kgm
t1  41C ; h1  171.75 ; ρ1  992 3 WB  0.093931
kg m kgda
KJ KJ
t 2  28C ; h 2  117.43 hB  292.757
kg kgda
KJ
t 3  10C ; h3  41.87 L 1m 3 kg
W
0.622Pv kgm kg m1  m 2  113 x x992 3
P  Pv kgda sec 1000L m
0.622(5.2) kgm kg
WA   0.0383 m1  m 2  112.1
(89.6  5.2) kgda sec
h A  1.0045(36)  0.03832501.3  1.86(36) m3  ma ( WB  WA )
KJ kg
h A  134.53 m3  2.173
kgda sec

m1 (h1  h 2 )
ma  kg/sec
(h B  h A )  ( WB  WA )h 3
kg
ma  39.06
sec