Theory

Basic Principle
First consider an air stream passing over the surface of a warm water droplet or
film. If we assume that the water is hotter than the air, then the water temperature
will be cooled down by radiation, conduction and convection, and evaporation. The
radiation effect is normally very small and may be neglected. Conduction and
convection depend on the temperature difference, the surface area, air velocity, etc.
The effect of evaporation is the most significant where cooling takes place as water
molecules diffuse from the surface into the surrounding air. During the evaporation
process, the water molecules are replaced by others in the liquid from which the
required energy is taken.
Evaporation from a Wet Surface
When considering evaporation from a wet surface into the surrounding air, the rate
is determined by the difference between the vapour pressure at the liquid surface
and the vapour pressure in the surrounding air. The vapour pressure at the liquid
surface is basically the saturation pressure corresponding with the surface
temperature, whereas the total pressure of the air and its absolute humidity
determines the vapour pressure in the surrounding air. Such evaporation process in
an enclosed space shall continue until the two vapour pressures are equal. In other
words, until the air is saturated and its temperature equals the surface.
However, if unsaturated air is constantly supplied, the wet surface will reach an
equilibrium temperature at which the cooling effect due to the evaporation equals
the heat transfer to the liquid by conduction and convection from the air, which
under these conditions; will be at a higher temperature. Under adiabatic conditions,
this equilibrium temperature is the "wet bulb temperature".
For a cooling tower of infinite size and with an adequate air flow, the water leaving
will be at the wet bulb temperature of the incoming air. Therefore, the difference
between the temperature of the water leaving a cooling tower and the local wet

bulb temperature is an indication of the effectiveness of the cooling tower. Thus,

"Approach to Wet Bulb", an important parameter of cooling towers, is the difference
between the temperature of the water leaving the tower and the wet bulb
temperature of the entering air.

Cooling Tower Performance

A study on the performance of a cooling tower can be done with the help of a bench
top unit. Students shall be able to verify the effect of these factors on the cooling
tower performance:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Water flow rates

Water temperatures
Airflow rate
Inlet Air Relative Humidity

The effect of these factors will be studied in depth by varying it. In this way,
students will gain an overall view of the operation of cooling tower.

Thermodynamic Property
In order to understand the working principle and performance of a cooling tower, a
basic knowledge of thermodynamic is essential to all students. A brief review on
some of the thermodynamic properties is presented below.
At the triple point (i.e. 0.00602 atm and 0.01C), the specific enthalpy of saturated
water is assumed to be zero, which is taken as datum. The specific enthalpy of
saturated water (hf) at a range of temperatures above the datum condition can be
obtained from thermodynamic tables.
The specific enthalpy of compressed liquid is given by
h = hf + vf (p psat)

(1)

The correction for pressure is negligible for the operating condition of the cooling
tower; therefore we can see that h hf at a given temperature. Specific heat
capacity (Cp) is defined as the rate of change of enthalpy with respect to
temperature (often called the specific heat at constant pressure). For the purpose of
experiment using bench top cooling tower, we may use the following relationship:

h=cp t

(2)

And
H = C pT

(3)

Where Cp = 4.18 kJ.kg-1

Daltons and Gibbs Laws
It is commonly known that air consists of a mixture of "dry air" (O2 and other gases)
and water vapour. Dalton and Gibbs law describes the behaviour of such a mixture
as:
a) The total pressure of the air is equal to the sum of the pressures at which the
"dry air" and the water vapour each and alone would exert if they were to occupy
the volume of the mixture at the temperature of the mixture.
b)

The dry air and the water vapour respectively obey their normal property

relationships at their partial pressures.

c) The enthalpy of the mixture may be found by adding together the enthalpies at
which the dry air and water vapour each would have as the sole occupant of the
space occupied by the mixture and at the same temperature.
The Absolute or Specific Humidity is defined as follows:

specific humidity , =

mass of water vapour

mass of dry air

The Relative Humidity is defined as follows:

Relative humidity =

pressure of water vapour the air

saturation pressure of water vapour at the same temprature

The Percentage Saturation is defined as follows:

Percentage saturation

At high humidity conditions, it can be shown that there is not much difference
between the "Relative Humidity" and the "Percentage
Saturation" and thus we shall regard as the same.
To measure the moisture content of the atmosphere, this bench top cooling tower
unit is supplied with electronic dry bulb and wet bulb temperature sensors. The
temperature readings shall be used in conjunction with a psychometric chart.
Psychometric Chart
The psychometric chart is very useful in determining the properties of air/water
vapour mixture. Among the properties that can be defined with psychometric chart
are Dry Bulb Temperature, Wet Bulb Temperature, Relative Humidity, Humidity
Ratio, Specific Volume, and Specific Enthalpy. Knowing two of these properties, any
other property can be easily identified from the chart provided the air pressure is
approximately atmospheric.
In the Bench Top Cooling Tower application, the air inlet and outlet sensor show the
dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature. Therefore, the specific enthalpy,
specific volume, humidity ratio and relative humidity can be readily read from the
psychometric chart.

The psychometric chart provided with this manual is only applicable for atmospheric
pressure operating condition (1.013 bar). However, the error resulting from variation
of local atmospheric pressure normally is negligible up to altitudes 500m above sea
level.
Orifice Calibration
As mentioned above, the psychometric chart can be used to determine the value of
the specific volume. However, the values given in the chart are for 1 kg of dry air at
the stated total pressure.
However, for every 1 kg of dry air, there is w kg of water vapour, yielding the total
mass of 1 + w kg.
Therefore, the actual specific volume of the air/vapor mixture is given by:

The mass flow rate of air and steam mixture through the orifice is given by

Where,
m = Mass flow rate of air/vapor mixture
va = Orifice differential in mmH
x = Actual specific volume and O2
Thus,

The mass flow rate of dry air,

A simplification can be made since in this application, the value of

is unlikely to

exceed 0.025. As such, neglecting wb would not yield significant error.

Application of Steady Flow Energy Equation
Consider System A for the cooling tower defined as in Figure 2. It can be seen that
for this system, indicated by the dotted line,
a) Heat transfer at the load tank and possibly a small quantity to surroundings
b) Work transfer at the pump
c) Low humidity air enters at point A
d) High humidity air leaves at point B
e) Make-up enters at point E, the same amount as the moisture increase in the air
stream

From the steady flow equation,

Note: The pump power, P is a work input. Therefore it is negative.

If the enthalpy of the air includes the enthalpy of the steam associated with it, and
this quantity is in terms of per unit mass of dry air, the equation may then be
written as:

Note:
a) The mass flow rate of dry air (m) through a cooling tower is a constant, whereas
the mass flow rate of moist air increases as the result of evaporation process.
b) The term mEhE can usually be neglected since its value is relatively small.

Under steady state conditions, by conservation of mass, the mass flow rate of dry
air and of water (as liquid or vapour) must be the same at inlet and outlet to any
system.
Therefore,

And

The ratio of steam to air

is known for the initial and final state points on the

psychrometric charts. Therefore,

Therefore,

Say, we re-define the cooling tower system to be as in Figure 3 where the process
heat and pump work does not cross the boundary of the system. In this case warm
water enters the system at point C and cool water leaves at point D.

Again from the steady flow energy equation,

Q may have a small value due to heat transfer between the unit and its
surroundings.

Rearranging,

Again, the term mEhE can be neglected

Recommendation
1. The water that can be used in the unit only deionized water or distilled water.
When using tap water in the system, the impurities that exist in the tap water
may cause the depositing in the cover tower and thus the efficiency of the
cooling tower.
2. When installing the cooling tower column or make up tank, make sure that
the nuts were not lighten too hard because it may cause crack. Also not too
tight lightly which can cause spilling of water out of the column.
3. Ensure that the pressure tubings for differential pressure measurement are
connected correctly which orifice pressure tapping point to V4, columns
lower pressure tapping to V6, columns higher pressure tapping point to V3
and V5 leave to atmosphere
4. Make sure that there is no water in the pressure tubing for accurate
differential pressure measurement
5. Ensure that the water inside the tower was cooled down first before draining
it off because if water still hot when draining off the water, the units
efficiency will decreased.