INTRODUCING AQUAFAN

Motorless Hydro-Powered Cooling Tower Technology

The AQUAFAN principle
Main Characteristics

Uses system pressure of the cooling water to

drive the fan.
No fan motor, gear box or traditional bearings
(lubrication by water and Teflon bearing ring).
System pump powers the fan via high-efficiency
turbine.
Forced Draft Cooling Tower Principle:
Moving water and air are in contact in the tower to allow
cooling through evaporation of a small %-age of the
water.
The tower infill increases retention time of water in the
tower to facilitate the evaporation. Electric pumps and
fan motors are required in conventional systems.
Principles of Operation

Water pressure from system

pump drives the fan
Water pressure varies with
cooling requirements
Fan draws required air
quantities over infill of the
tower
Water exiting the turbine
evenly distributed over the
infill
Optimal cooling performance
with limited energy demand
Reduced CAPEX and OPEX

Decrease >25% CAPEX in new cooling tower

setup:
Cost of AQUAFAN cooling tower equipment typically 15%
below conventional systems
Cost of installation (no electric to cooling tower, no
vibration switches, no spring isolators required) can be
reduced >10%
Decrease OPEX 25% - 75%
Lowered energy consumption up to 75% decrease
Cost of maintenance over 75% decrease
Operational Advantages

Sustainable Low Energy Consumption

Reliable Low System Downtime
Durable Long Operational Life Span

Worry Free Winter Operations

Low Noise
Explosion proof
Low Energy Consumption

AQUAFAN cooling system is (at design conditions)

on average 10-15% more efficient than
conventional counter flow cooling towers
3-5 m pump head remaining at top of cooling tower
(required for water spread from the nozzles) are conversed
into fan energy

Typical energy saving in (VFD controlled)

operations
> 30% up to 75%, due to optimal response of the
AQUAFAN to:
changing ambient conditions
(Wet Bulb Temperature)
varying cooling requirements
Low System Downtime

Turbine is the only moving part: runs on Teflon

bearing rings, lubricated by the water.
Modular system allows 24/7-operation
Routine maintenance of the AQUAFAN cooling
tower is hardly necessary.
Only non-corrosive materials are used
Low Noise
No noise from fan motors or gear box
Use of light weight fan (placed below drift
eliminators)
Noise Power Level (SPL) < 80 dB and at 10 m <
58 dB
Explosion Proof

No electrical parts in the cooling tower

Suitable for high-risk environments
Engineering aspects
AQUAFAN
Modular Systems

Flexible in capacity and construction by a

applying a modular system.
Extension of existing cooling towers is possible by
simply adding modules.
Cell sizes:
7 ft (prefab): up to 175 m3/hour
8 ft: up to 200 m3/hour
10 ft: up to 265 m3/hour
12 ft: up to 325 m3/hour
No back-up units required for fail safe
operations, Reduce system footprint
Construction Information
Cooling Tower part Material

Turbine Nylon and Stainless

Steel
Fan ABS

Structural Parts Pultruted FRP

Cladding FRP

Fasteners Stainless Steel 304

Piping PVC

Drift eliminator PVC

Infill PVC or ABS

Structure
All FRP with Stainless Steel Fasteners
FRP meets CTI 137 standard with UV protection and 20+ yrs
lifetime. Colors on demand
Basins optional in FRP
Components can be hand carried for easy assembly on site
Architecture Friendly
Drift eliminator is placed above fan stack: no visible fan cones
The box-shaped the structure is easy to fit into architecture for
buildings
Possible variations in cover (= drift eliminator) of the installation
offers a pleasant sight when viewed from above
Construction Turbine
Light weight non corrosive materials only:
Aluminum Turbine House
Stainless steel Turbine Ring and Hub Plate
ABS / FRP / Alu fan
PA6 molded turbine scoops and nozzles
All parts can be assembled with simple
wrench key
On site repairs within 15 minutes and with 1-
cell / lane shut down
No vibration switches needed (total weight of
12 kg all centered in hub)

(Plays in Power Point Show)

Water Distribution system
Add-on for critical selections
FRP collector dome guides water
over low pressure spray nozzle
system
Guarantee optimal distribution
over CT surface
Dome design variable to water
volume and cell size
Variables in turbine control
Water pressure / volume
Nozzle size
Number of blades
Angle of blades

All variables extensively

tested and documented
for selection purposes.
Selection Calculation
Approach
Required exchange surface
Enthalpy balance Optimal L/G ratio
Pressure Losses over different stages of Tower
Check fan diagram for required RPM at air movement level
Select pump pressure and nozzle configuration at given water
volume
AQUAFAN+ Variation
Hybrid with motor backup
For critical water cooling jobs (low approach)
Ensures that all cushion safety margins on hydraulic engineering
of the system are put to use (in energy conversion)
Typical: 0.5 bar equals to 25% of fan energy requirement
Geared motor backup kicks in when needed. Guarantees
performance and offers extreme flexibility over a wide cooling
spread with minimum energy use.
AQUAFAN+ with VFD control

When energy savings on the cooling tower

become possible and interesting due to
variable WBT or thermal load.
Principles:
VFD on the backup motor with following
functions:
Reduce fan speed to save electricity
Switch off motor support and run fan at water
pressure only
For extended flexibility and savings:
VFD on system pump
VFD's in communication: pump VFD only reduces
volume/pressure when fan VFD is fully scaled
down (eg fan powered by water pressure only).
 AQUAFAN allows
>25% reduction of investments and operational cost of
cooling tower operation
Reduction of your footprint (carbon and physical)
Substantial reduction of maintenance cost on the power
system of your cooling towers
Application Areas
Diary Industries
Paper Mills
Steel & Non-Ferro Mills
Power Stations
HVAC - Comfort Cooling (hotels-
office-hospitals)
Pharmaceutical Industries
Contaminant removal processes
Chemical and Petrochemical
Industries
Casting & Die Casting Industries
Plastics Industries
Mining Industries
Semi Conductor Industries
Sugar Industries
History
After its development early 60s
applied in NW-Europe for industry
purposes
Successful 80s and 90s as WACON-
AQUAVEN
Re-engineered since 2012 for higher
duty and bigger cells

Early installations in
action
Projects