How to Select Cooling Towers
Image Credit: DME Company, Baltimore Aircoil Company
Cooling towers are heat removal devices for industrial processes. They are defined as any open water recirculation device that uses fans or natural draft to draw or force air to contact and cool water by evaporation. Cooling towers minimize the thermal pollution of natural water heat sinks and allow the reuse of circulating water. When one thinks of cooling towers, the large towers...
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Q & A on Cooling Towers
We asked our users for their input on Cooling Towers. Here are the results of 123 users familiar with Cooling Towers.
Who Took Our Poll? | Design Trends | Applications and Use | Features | Buying Advice |Design TrendsTop
What new technologies are influencing cooling tower design?
20 answers
The time of retention and the size of the water dropping is very important to have a very good heat transfer.
~German G, Engineer, Bogota, Colombia
FRP material used for Corrosion resistant, New FRP Aerodynamic Power Saver Fan.
~Manufacturing, Valsad, India
Ozone generators as replacement for chemical water treatment....
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~Deodato G, Facilities Manager, Manila, Philippines
From your perspective, which companies are creating the most innovative cooling towers?
18 answers
Well known established Cooling Tower fabricators and Cooling towers packing suppliers.
~Alejandro V, General Management, Guadalajara, Mexico
I do not remember names of the best cooling tower developer.
~German G, Engineer, Bogota, Colombia
Most of them we deal with use traditional designs only.
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~Krishnakumar S, General Management, Chennai, India
Applications and UseTop
What are some of the applications you have used cooling tower for?
36 answers
For Air Conditioning, Refrigeration System, Chemical Process, Industrial Process, D.G. Sets, Furnaces, Air Compressors, Plastic Injection Machines.
~Manufacturing, Valsad, India
For heat exchangers on large air compressors. For cooling in refrigerant systems. For oil cooling systems on rotating equipment.
~Technical Support/Services, Moncton, Canada
In air conditioning applications to cool the condensers of chillers, also to cool condensers of packaged D.X. water cooled units.
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~Islam G, Engineering Consultant, Cairo, Egypt
Please share with us any “non-standard” applications that cooling towers have been used for.
6 answers
We have used cooling towers for evaporated polluted water & solvent.
~Manufacturing, Valsad, India
Tower with non standard construction materials.
~Musharraf K, Quality Control, Islamabad, Pakistan
Cure Oven machines heat exchangers
~Deodato G, Facilities Manager, Manila, Philippines
Do you know of any disastrous mistakes that occurred due to the incorrect usage of cooling towers?
10 answers
Yes, using caustic chemicals to maintain cooling water. It corroded the system and got very problematic with scales, scums and algae build up. Cost more to maintain and wasted energy and water because system worked very inefficiently.
~Tom R, Manufacturer, Bethesda, MD
Cooling towers without water filtration at the inlet led to clogging of nozzles, thereby affecting the flow spread area & cooling characteristics.
~Krishnakumar S, General Management, Chennai, India
When wrong wet bulb temperatures were used then the cooling towers failed in operation.
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~Islam G, Engineering Consultant, Cairo, Egypt
FeaturesTop
What would your design or feature "wish list" be for this product?
12 answers
We are Mfg. FRP Induced Draft Round Bottle Shaped & Square (Multi cell) Cooling Towers Cap. 5 TR to 800 TR in Single Cell.
~Manufacturing, Valsad, India
Auto sensing speed control of fan depending on the water temperature.
~Shahed H, Manufacturer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Updated technical information and selection programs.
~Islam G, Engineering Consultant, Cairo, Egypt
Compact & cost effective/ value for money.
~Krishnakumar S, General Management, Chennai, India
Low pressure drop and efficient packing.
~Alejandro V, General Management, Guadalajara, Mexico
Good CT approach and larger basin.
~Deodato G, Facilities Manager, Manila, Philippines
Use of water without treatment.
~Ross N, Engineering Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Fan blades high performance
~Luis Martinez Poot, Technical Support, Cancún, Mexico
Power saving & cost down
~Manufacturing, Tainan, Taiwan
Enhanced Induced draft
~Musharraf K, Quality Control, Islamabad, Pakistan
Combine fan+fill
~Purchasing, Mumbai, India
Revolutionary.
~Mark Rawles, Project Manager, Sta Rosa, Philippines
Buying AdviceTop
Do you have any advice for people relative to buying or using cooling towers?
13 answers
To get a high energy efficiency a high number of equilibrium stages should be installed. Efficient filtration of the cooling tower water and the supply of fresh water is important to avoid deposits on the cooling tower packing.
~Anders Jensen, Process Engineer, Kalundborg, Denmark
Counter flow induced draft re- circulating cooling tower with construction materials of fiber glass; FRP or Resin coated steel are the best and resist corrosion.
~Musharraf K, Quality Control, Islamabad, Pakistan
Water treatment, develop a good internal plan or engage a qualified specialist. Look into the UV treatment systems before construction.
~Rich F., Operations Technologist, Florence, KY
Make sure the CT approach and the condenser approach are correlated well with the needs of chiller efficiency.
~Deodato G, Facilities Manager, Manila, Philippines
Check out my products for maintaining cooling water system without caustic chemicals.
~Tom R, Manufacturer, Bethesda, MD
Consider operating and maintenance costs in addition to the purchase price.
~Mike T, Marketing/Sales, Phoenix, AZ
Make sure of quality & performance, do not consider price as a main factor.
~Hareesh C, Feild instalation supervisor, Dubai, India
Buy cost effective, long living, least space occupying cooling towers.
~Krishnakumar S, General Management, Chennai, India
Check design thoroughly. Performance is not always achievable.
~Ross N, Engineering Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Understand cooling tower fundamentals. Wet bulb, approach.
~Alejandro V, General Management, Guadalajara, Mexico
They should learn about the thermal calculation.
~Shahed H, Manufacturer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Look at new ideas.
~Mark Rawles, Project Manager, Sta Rosa, Philippines
VSD integated
~Nguyen Atinh, Application engineer, Hcm, Vietnam
Is there any advice you want to share with users to help them avoid common errors in selection or usage of cooling towers?
8 answers
Use the correct ratio of tonnage of CT relative to Chiller tonnage..... at the least it should not be lower than 1.5.
~Deodato G, Facilities Manager, Manila, Philippines
Flow rate/ hr, desired wet bulb temperature, humidity in your region decides the type of cooling tower you need.
~Krishnakumar S, General Management, Chennai, India
Everyone should strictly calculate the WBT & Placement of cooling tower.
~Shahed H, Manufacturer, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Don't believe everything suppliers tell you about performance.
~Ross N, Engineering Consultant, Brisbane, Australia
Keep cooling tower one of the main parts of your plant.
~Hareesh C, Feild instalation supervisor, Dubai, India
Material selection and water analysis of the locality.
~Musharraf K, Quality Control, Islamabad, Pakistan
Right size your towers in a redundant fashion.
~Rich F., Operations Technologist, Florence, KY
Always use VSD for CT.
~Nguyen Atinh, Application engineer, Hcm, Vietnam
