Cooling Towers
Fischer Mechanical installs cooling towers of all sizes. In addition to installing towers on new construction projects, we perform demolition and replacement with new towers. Many cooling towers require a lot of parts to be assembled. The Pipefitters involved in the installation of cooling towers are very meticulous to detail when assembling cooling towers.
Cooling Tower:
A cooling tower is a device that releases waste heat to the atmosphere by cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature. There are two ways a cooling tower works. The first way is using the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to the wet-bulb air temperature. Wet-bulb temperature is the temperature a parcel of air would have if it were cooled to saturation (100% relative humidity) by evaporating of water into it, with the latent being supplied by the parcel. The second way a cooling tower works is by using a closed circuit dry cooling tower. In a closed circuit, the cooling tower rely on air to cool the working fluid to near dry-bulb air temperature. Dry-bulb temperature is the temperature of air measured by a thermometer freely exposed to the air shielded from radiation and moisture.
Cooling towers are used in oil refineries, petrochemical, chemical plants, thermal power stations, and HVAC systems. Cooling tower cool the circulating water in plants. For HVAC system cooling tower dispose the unwanted heat from chillers. Water cooled chillers are generally more efficient than air cooled chillers. Air cooled chillers require more maintenance since air filters are required. The air filters get clogged easily with all the debris in outside are that is used to cool the chillers.
Types of Cooling Towers:
Natural Draft Cooling Tower:
Natural Draft Cooling Towers uses air that is circulated through the tower, which cools the water and allows the waste heat to be released into the atmosphere.
Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers:
In a Mechanical Draft Cooling Tower, a natural draft in not used to cool the water. Fans or other mechanical devices are used to circulate air through the tower. Mechanical draft towers are more effective at cooling the circulating water than natural draft towers. The downside of a mechanical draft tower is that more power is used than natural draft, which cost are higher to operate. If a proper exhaust system is in place a mechanical draft tower can be located inside.
Crossflow Cooling Towers:
In a crossflow tower air flows horizontal through the cooling tower, as circulated water flows downward from distributed basins. A problem with crossflow towers is that they are more prone to freezing.
Counterflow Cooling Towers:
In a Counterflow Cooling Towers air is moved upward through the tower while water flows downwards and is cooled. Counterflow towers are more compact than other types of cooling towers and save energy in the long run.
How HVAC Cooling Tower Works:
Cooling towers are used in commercial and industrial applications to cool condenser water from a chiller. The chiller provides cold water for a chilled water system. A chiller uses refrigeration to consume heat from the chilled water side of the loop and transfers the heat to the condenser water. The condenser water is then pumped to the cooling tower where process of evaporation is used to release the unwanted heat.
