Field Erected Cooling Towers:

Reducing Footprint, Power, and

Water Use
Seeking a Balance
Chris Bickerstaff
Composite Cooling Solutions, L.P.
The Basics
A cooling tower is designed to
remove heat from a fluid,
usually water, to the
atmosphere, most often
through the process of
evaporative cooling.
Open-circuit cooling towers
distribute hot water over a
medium designed to induce
splashing or the creation of a
thin film of water. Evaporation
removes the heat and cools
the working fluid to near the
wet-bulb temperature.
Water & Fill
Fill is designed to increase the relative
surface area of a volume of water to
allow for more efficient heat transfer.
Splash Fill causes a continued breakup of
large droplets into smaller droplets as
the water falls downward through the
tower.
Film Fill creates a thin film of water over
the sheet with a surface area over 3X
that of a droplet of an equivalent
volume.
Reducing Footprint
How
Make it smaller.
Remember that a cooling tower requires open area around it to
allow the unimpeded flow of air into the tower.
Limitations
Water loading too great of a volume of water over too small of an
area will cause the fill to flood and be ineffective.
Air Velocities to get the same volume of air through a smaller
space in the same time, the air velocity must increase. As the
velocity increases it can cause maldistribution of air and reduce the
effectiveness of the fill and drift eliminators
Power the tighter the space the more power it takes to pull the air
through the tower
Reducing Power
How
Increase the Footprint a greater total area increases the total surface area of the fill and allows
for more efficient cooling and reduces the velocity of the air moving through the tower.
Increase the Tower Height deeper fill packs also increase the total surface area of the fill and
taller air inlets reduce the velocity of the air entering the tower.
High Efficiency Fan Selection selecting a fan with a higher efficiency will allow more of the motor
power to be applied to the work of moving the air through the tower
Limitations
Water Loading too low of a volume of water over too great of an area will dry out areas of the fill
limiting film formation and encourage scaling
Air Velocities a very low velocity can cause maldistribution of air and reduce the effectiveness of
the fill and drift eliminators
Footprint is rarely without some limitation at a site
Pump Head the taller the air inlet and the greater the fill depth, the higher the water must be
pumped to spray over the fill.
Field Installed Conditions fan efficiencies as stated by the fan manufacturers are based on
factory testing which includes perfect tip clearance and exact fan pitch. Field installations will
rarely provide more than 70%-75% efficiency.
Space vs. Power
2500TR @ 105F 95F 87F
26 x 26 cell with 125 HP motor
39 x 39 cell with 30 HP motor
32.5 x 32.5 cell with 60 HP motor
Reducing Water Loss
Where does the water go?
Blowout/Splashout water lost from the walls or
air inlets of the tower due to prevailing winds,
leaks, or splashing
Drift water droplets carried by the air passing
through the tower
Blowdown water which must be removed from
the system to maintain required concentrations
of solids
Evaporation water which has become a vapor
and saturated the air as part of the fundamental
function of the cooling tower
Blowout/Splashout
Typical Loss 0.1% of total flow
Methods of Reduction
Louvers catch water and redirects it into the tower
Windwalls prevent winds from passing through the tower and
carrying water out of the tower
Basin sizing if large enough, can eliminate the need for louvers
Quality construction will reduce leaking potential to negligible or
none
Potential Loss 0.0% of total flow
Drift
Typical Loss 0.002% of total water
flow with typical drift eliminators
Methods of Reduction
Drift Eliminators collect the drift and
return it to the system. More efficient drift
eliminators will be denser and/or deeper which
will obstruct air imposing a pressure drop and
require more power to the fan.
Potential Loss 0.0005% of total
water flow with high efficiency DEs
Air Flow
Blowdown
Typical Loss 0.48% of total flow at 3 cycles of concentration
(COCs) at 10F range
Methods of Reduction
Increase the COCs if greater concentrations of solids are allowed for in
the system, then less water is required to be bled off to maintain those levels
of concentrations. 4 CoCs require only 0.31% of the total flow and 5 CoCs
require only 0.23%. However, a cooling tower is much more forgiving of solids
than a chillers heat exchanger which will limit the maximum cycles of
concentration.
Filter the blowdown filtration and water treatment systems are
marketed to be able to return 90% - 99% of the blowdown to the system as
clean water
Potential Loss 0.23% of total flow at 5 COCs at 10F range and
a further reduction to 0.023% through filtrations with a 90%
return from filtration
Evaporation
Typical Loss 1.00% of total flow at 10F Range
Methods of Reduction
Evaporation Reclamation by introduction of cold air or surfaces into
the plenum of the cooling tower, the saturated exit air is encouraged to create
a plume and condense the water within the tower to be recollected. Such
systems are marketed to provide a 7% - 10% reclamation of evaporation in
locations such as the UAE. This requires greater power and much more space.
Indirect cooling circulates the process fluid through coils which transfer
the heat to either circulating water or air. This requires greater power and
much more space. Air cooled coils are limited by the dry bulb temperature
instead of the wetbulb temperature.
Potential Loss 0.93% of total flow at 10F Range with
evaporation reclamation of 7%
Comparisons of Water Loss Reduction
2500TR @ 105F 95F 87F requires 7500 GPM
Typical Improvements Savings
% of
Flow
GPM
% of
Makeup
Method
% of
Flow
GPM % GPM
% of
Makeup
Blowout
0.0% 0 0 0
Drift
0.002% 1.5 1.33% Hi-Eff DEs 0.0005% 0.375 75% 2.25 2%
Evaporation
1% 75 66.67% Reclamation 0.93% 69.75 7% 5.25 4.67%
Blowdown
(3 CoCs)
0.48% 36 32.00% 4 CoCs 0.31% 23.25 0.17% 12.75 11.33%
Filtration -20.925 18.6%
Makeup
1.5% 112.5
Summary
A cooling tower works according to unalterable laws. Since the current
technology for fill is pretty much level among the competition, no one can
claim to have a truly superior performing cooling tower. Experience and
knowledge of thermal design, engineering, construction and risk assessment
are the true variables.
Reduction of power and reduction of footprint are mutually exclusive goals.
Reduction of water loss is difficult to accomplish without costly additions and
increases in power and/or pumping requirements.
Considering the shortage of water and power in the UAE, footprint
is the most economical sacrifice when seeking the balance
between space, water, and power consumption.
A Final Thought
System Efficiency
The most efficient tower design is the one which
provides the best chiller efficiency.
Net savings of 22 kw at AED 0.33/kwis a savings of AED 31,799 each year for
2500TR at 50% utilization.
That is nearly 13 dirhams per ton per year with no additional investment
beyond good design
If the cooling tower were to be increased in size to a 36x36 model, the
power consumption would be 53 kw. This results in an annual savings of
AED 78,052 enough to pay for the difference in only 2-3 years.
2500TR @
104F 94F 87F
30x30 CT 52 kw
Chiller 1680 kw
Total 1732 kw
Savings 14 kw
2500TR @
105F 95F 87F
30x30 CT 46 kw
Chiller 1700 kw
Total 1746 kw
2500TR @
103F 93F 87F
30x30 CT 68 kw
Chiller 1660 kw
Total 1728 kw
Savings 18 kw
2500TR @
102F 92F 87F
30x30 CT 85 kw
Chiller 1639 kw
Total 1724kw
Savings 22 kw
Composite Cooling Solutions
The future of cooling towers, today.
www.compositecooling.com
Chris Bickerstaff
Regional Manager, Middle East
Composite Cooling Solutions, L.P.
4150 International Plaza, Suite 500
Fort Worth, TX 76109
Office +1 817 708 9153
+1 817 246 8700
Fax +1 817 246 8717
US Mobile +1 832 492 1802
UAE Mobile +971 50 895 2464
cbickerstaff@compositecooling.com
S R Khanna
U.A.E. Representative
ASECO Chillers Technology
P.O. Box 30303
Dubai, U.A.E.
Office +971 4 335 7702
+971 4 880 2088
Fax +971 4 335 7703
+971 4 880 2055
Mobile +971 50 644 9803
khanna@aseco.ae