Cooling Tower Terms

The following terms are commonly used in cooling tower science, many of which are unique tothe cooling tower industry The actual volumetric flow rate of air-vapor mixture, cubic feet of air moved per minute.. Unit:cu ft per min. Air Horsepower: The power output developed by a fan in moving a given air rate against a givenresistance. Unit: hp. Symbol: ahp. Air lnlet: Opening in a cooling tower through which air enters. Sometimes referred to as the louveredface on induced draft towers. Air Rate: Mass flow of dry air per square foot of cross - sectional area in the tower's heat transferregion per hour. Unit: lb per sq ft per hr. Symbol: G'.(See Total Air Rate). Air Travel: Distance which air travels in its passage through the fill. Measured vertically oncounterflow towers and horizontally on crossflow towers. Unit: ft. Air Velocity: Velocity of air-vapor mixture through a specific region of the tower (i.e. the fan). Unit: ftper min. Symbol: V. Ambient Wet-Bulb Temperature: The wet-bulb temperature of the air encompassing a cooling towernot including any temperature contribution by the tower itself. Generally measured upwind of a towerin a number of locations sufficient to account for all extraneous sources of heat. Unit: F. Symbol:AWB. Approach: Difference between the cold water temperature and either the ambient or entering wet-bulb temperature. (CW-EWB=A) Unit: F. Atmospheric: Refers to the movement of air through a cooling tower purely by natural means, or bythe aspirating effect of water flow. Automatic Variable-Pitch Fan: A propeller type fan whose hub incorporates a mechanism whichenables the fan blades to be re-pitched simultaneously and automatically. They are used on coolingtowers and air-cooled heat exchangers to trim capacity and/or conserve energy. Basin: See "Collection Basin" and "Distribution Basin". Basin Curb: Top level of the cold water basin retaining wall; usually the datum from which pumpinghead and various elevations of the tower are measured. Bay: The area between adjacent transverse and longitudinal framing bents. Bent: A transverse or longitudinal line of structural framework composed of columns, girts, ties, anddiagonal bracing members. Bleed-Off: See "Blowdown". Blowdown: Water discharged from the system to control concentrations of salts or other impurities inthe circulating water. Units % of circulating water rate or gpm. Blower: A squirrel-cage (centrifugal) type fan; usually applied for operation at higher-than-normalstatic pressures. Blowout - See "Windage". Brake Horsepower: The actual power output of a motor, turbine, or engine. Unit: hp. Symbol: bhp. BTU (British Thermal Unit): The amount of heat gain (or loss) required to raise (or lower) thetemperature of one pound of water one degree (1)F. Capacity: The amount of water (gpm) that a cooling tower will cool through a specified range, at aspecified approach and wet-bulb temperature. Unit: gpm. Casing: Exterior enclosing wall of a tower exclusive of the louvers. Cell: Smallest tower subdivision which can function as an independent unit with regard to air andwater flow; it is bounded by either exterior walls or partition walls. Each cell may have one or morefans and one or more distribution systems. CFM: The volumetric flow rate of air-vapor mixture, cubic feet of air moved per minute. Unit: cu ft permin. Chimney: See "Shell". Circulating Water Rate

- Quantity of hot water entering the cooling tower. Unit: gpm. Cold Water Temperature: Temperature of the water leaving the collection basin, exclusive of anytemperature effects incurred by the addition of make-up and/or the removal of blowdown. Unit: F.Symbol: CW. Collection Basin: Vessel below and integral with the tower where water is transiently collected anddirected to the sump or pump suction line. Counterflow: Air flow direction through the fill is countercurrent to that of the falling water. Crossflow: Air flow direction through the fill is essentially perpendicular to that of the falling water. Distribution Basin: Shallow pan-type elevated basin used to distribute hot water over the tower fill bymeans of orifices in the basin floor. Application is normally limited to crossflow towers. Distribution System: Those parts of a tower beginning with the inlet connection which distribute thehot circulating water within the tower to the points where it contacts the air for effective cooling. Mayinclude headers, laterals branch arms, nozzles, distribution basins, and flow-regulating devices. Double-Flow: A crossflow cooling tower where two opposed fill banks are served by a common airplenum. Drift: Circulating water lost from the tower as liquid droplets entrained in the exhaust air stream.Units: % of circulating water rate or gpm. (For more precise work, an L/G parameter is used, and driftbecomes pounds of water per million pounds of exhaust air. Unit: ppm.) Drift Eliminators: An assembly of baffles or labyrinth passages through which the air passes prior toits exit from the tower, for the purpose of removing entrained water droplets from the exhaust air. Driver: Primary drive for the fan drive assembly. Although electric motors predominate, it may also bea gas engine, steam turbine, hydraulic motor or other power source. Dry-Bulb Temperature: The temperature of the entering or ambient air adjacent to the cooling toweras measured with a dry-bulb thermometer. Unit: F. Symbol: DB. Entering Wet-Bulb Temperature: The wet-bulb temperature of the air actually entering the tower,including any effects of recirculation. In testing, the average of multiple readings taken at the air inletsto establish a true entering wet-bulb temperature. Unit F. Symbol: EWB. Evaluation: A determination of the total cost of owning a cooling tower for a specific period of time.Includes first cost of tower and attendant devices, cost of operation, cost of maintenance and/orrepair, cost of land use, cost of financing, etc., all normalized to a specific point in time. Evaporation Loss: Water evaporated from the circulating water into the air stream in the coolingprocess. Units: % of circulating water rate or gpm. Exhaust (Exit) Wet-Bulb Temperature: See "Leaving Wet-Bulb Temperature". Fan Cylinder: Cylindrical or venturi-shaped structure in which a propeller fan operates. Sometimesreferred to as a fan "stack" on larger towers. Fan Deck: Surface enclosing the top structure of an induced draft cooling tower, exclusive of thedistribution basins on a crossflow tower. Fan Pitch: The angle which the blades of a propeller fan make with the plane of rotation, measured ata prescribed point on each blade. Unit: degrees. Fan Scroll: Convolute housing in which a centrifugal (blower) fan operates. Fill: That portion of a cooling tower which constitutes its primary heat transfer surface. Sometimesreferred to as "packing". Fill Cube: (1) Counterflow: The amount of fill required in a volume one bay long by one bay wide byan air travel high. Unit: cu ft. (2) Crossflow: The amount of fill required in a volume one bay long by anair travel wide by one story high. Unit: cu ft. Fill Deck: One of a succession of horizontal layers of splash bars utilized in a splash-filled coolingtower. The number of fill decks constituting overall fill height, as well as the number of splash barsincorporated within each fill deck, establishes the effective primary heat transfer surface. Fill Sheet:

One of a succession of vertically-arranged, closely-spaced panels over which flowingwater spreads to offer maximum surface exposure to the air in a filmfilled cooling tower. Sheets maybe flat, requiring spacers for consistent separation; or they may be formed into corrugated, chevron,and other patterns whose protrusions provide proper spacing, and whose convolutions provideincreased heat-transfer capability. Film-Filled: Descriptive of a cooling tower in which film-type fill is utilized for the primary heat-transfersurface. Float Valve: A valve which is mechanically actuated by a float. Utilized on many cooling towers tocontrol make-up water supply. Flow-Control Valves: Manually controlled valves which are used to balance flow of incoming water toall sections of the tower. Flume: A trough which may be either totally enclosed, or open at the top. Flumes are sometimesused in cooling towers for primary supply of water to various sections of the distribution system. Fogging: A reference to the visibility and path of the effluent air stream after having exited the coolingtower. If visible and close to the ground it is referred to as "fog". If elevated it is normally called the"plume". Forced Draft: Refers to the movement of air under pressure through a cooling tower. Fans of forceddraft towers are located at the air inlets to "force" air through the tower. Geareducer: See "Speed Reducer". (Geareducer is a Trademark of the Marley Cooling Tower Co.) Heat Load: Total heat to be removed from the circulating water by the cooling tower per unit time.Units: Btu per min. or Btu per hr. Cooling tower7 M = Make-up water in m/h C = Circulating water in m/h D = Draw-off water in m/h E = Evaporated water in m/h W = Windage loss of water in m/h X = Concentration in ppmw (of any completely soluble salts usually chlorides) XM= Concentration of chlorides in make-up water (M), in ppmw XC = Concentration of chlorides in circulating water (C), in ppmw Cycles= Cycles of concentration = XC / XM (dimensionless) Ppmw = parts per million by weight In the above sketch, water pumped from the tower basin is the cooling water routed through the process coolers and condensers in an industrial facility. The cool water absorbs heat from the hot process streams which need to be cooled or condensed, and the absorbed heat warms the circulating water (C). The warm water returns to the top of the cooling tower and trickles downward over the fill material inside the tower. As it trickles down, it contacts ambient air rising up through the tower either by natural draft or by forced draft using large fans in the tower. That contact causes a small amount of the water to be lost as windage (W) and some of the water (E) to evaporate. The heat required to evaporate the water is derived from the water itself, which cools the water back to the original basin water temperature and the water is then ready to recirculate. The evaporated water leaves its dissolved salts behind in the bulk of the water which has not been evaporated, thus raising the salt concentration in the circulating cooling water. To prevent the salt concentration of the water from becoming too high, a portion of the water is drawn off (D)for disposal. Fresh water makeup (M) is supplied to the tower basin to compensate for the loss of evaporated water,the windage loss water and the draw-off water. A water balance around the entire system is:M = E + D + W Since the evaporated water (E) has no salts, a chloride balance around the system is: M (XM ) = D (XC) + W (XC) = XC (D + W) and, therefore: XC/ XM = Cycles of concentration = M (D + W) = M (ME) = 1 + [E (D + W)] From a simplified heat balance around the cooling tower: E = C T c P HV where: H V= latent heat of vaporization of water = ca. 2260 kJ / kg T = water temperature difference from tower top to tower bottom, in C cp= specific heat of water = ca. 4.184 kJ / (kg C) Windage (or drift) losses (W) from large-scale industrial cooling towers, in the absence of manufacturer's data, maybe assumed to be: W = 0.3 to 1.0 percent of C for a natural draft cooling tower without windage drift eliminators W = 0.1 to 0.3 percent of C for an induced draft cooling tower without windage drift eliminators W = about 0.005 percent of C (or less) if the cooling tower has windage drift eliminators

Cycles of concentration represents the accumulation of dissolved minerals in the recirculating cooling water. Draw-off (or blow down) is used principally to control the build up of these minerals. The chemistry of the makeup water including the amount of dissolved minerals can vary widely. Makeup waters lowin dissolved minerals such as those from surface water supplies (lakes, rivers etc.) tend to be aggressive to metals(corrosive). Makeup waters from ground water supplies (wells) are usually higher in minerals and tend to be scaling(deposit minerals). Increasing the amount of minerals present in the water by cycling can make water less aggressive to piping however excessive levels of minerals can cause scaling problems. As the cycles of concentration increase the water may not be able to hold the minerals in solution. When the solubility of these minerals have been exceeded they can precipitate out as mineral solids and cause fouling and heat exchange problems in the cooling tower or the heat exchangers. The temperatures of the recirculating water, piping and heat exchange surfaces determine if and where minerals will precipitate from the recirculating water. Often a professional water treatment consultant will evaluate the makeup water and the operating conditions of the cooling tower and recommend an appropriate range for the cycles of concentration. The use of water treatment chemicals, pretreatment such as water softening, pH adjustment, and other techniques can affect the acceptable range of cycles of concentration. Concentration cycles in the majority of cooling towers usually range from 3 to 7. In the United States the majority of water supplies are well waters and have significant levels of dissolved solids. On the other hand one of the largest water supplies, New York City, has a surface supply quite low in minerals and cooling towers in that city are often allowed to concentrate to 7 or more cycles of concentration. Besides treating the circulating cooling water in large industrial cooling tower systems to minimize scaling and fouling, the water should be filtered and also be dosed with biocides and algaecides to prevent growths that could interfere with the continuous flow of the water. [5] For closed loop evaporative towers, corrosion inhibitors may be used, but caution should be taken to meet local environmental regulations as some inhibitors use chromates. Ambient conditions dictate the efficiency of any given tower due to the amount of water vapour the air is able to absorb and hold, as can be determined on a psychrometric chart.