SPX (Marley) Cooling Towers

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Open circuit cooling towers discharge heat from water-cooled systems into the atmosphere. The hot process water is distributed over a fill pack (heat transfer media) to interface with air blown by a fan through the cooling tower. During this evaporative cooling, a small part of the water evaporates while cooling the remaining process water.

Closed circuit cooling towers operate in a manner similar to open cooling towers, except that the heat load to be rejected is transferred from the process fluid (the fluid being cooled) to the ambient air through a heat exchange coil.

Hybrid cooling towers represent a suitable combination of wet and dry cooling with a favourable impact on the environment, meeting demanding environmental requirements.

Hybrid cooling towers allow for the reduction of steam drift (the “steam plume”, especially visible during cold wet weather and in winter, when it can lead to icing). The elimination of the steam plume is particularly beneficial in urban areas, industrial areas, and close to roads with the potential of icing. Hybrid cooling towers reduce the consumption of water and provide total heat rate as required by the customer.

While wet cooling ensures high efficiency  for the power generation cycle, the associated evaporation and blow-down of cooling water  imposes various environmental and ecological impacts:

• The humid plume emitted by the wet cooling tower contributes to visible fog formation and icing of roads in cold weather.
• The constant evaporation and blow-down of cooling water requires substantial amount of make-up water, that curtails its availability for municipality, industrial and agricultural consumption.

In order to eliminate this problem, cooling towers use the principle of combined wet and dry cooling. In this system, an intense mixing of the air streams from the dry section and the wet section of the cooling tower takes place to obtain discharge air conditions which will avoid the development of plumes.

Large surface area plume abatement coils are installed in the air discharge of the evaporative coil products and piped in series with the “wet” coil. To be effective they must have low air and fluid side pressure drops. This results in:

• Significant extension of dry operation capacity.
• Effective increase of discharge air temperature to reduce/eliminate plume during wet operation.
• Additional sensible heat transfer during wet operation which saves water and treatment costs. Plume abatement coil sizing and performance prediction require a thorough evaluation of thermodynamic and airside behaviour as well as an understanding of climate condition influences.

Originally developed for the industrial market, evaporative fluid coolers are becoming more popular in recent H.V.A.C, application, used for their ability to separate the process water from outside contaminants.

Materials of construction vary from FRP (fiberglass), Z.A.M (Zinc, Aluminium, Magnesium coated) steel, 304 stainless steel and 316 stainless steel and copper coils when requested.

As stated in its opening paragraph, CTI Standard 201… “sets forth a program whereby the Cooling Technology Institute will certify that all models of a line of Evaporative Heat Rejection Equipment offered for sale by a specific Manufacturer will perform thermally in accordance with the Manufacturer’s published ratings…”

By the purchase of a “certified” model, the Own/Operator has assurance that the tower will perform as specified. Either that model, or one within its model line, will have been thoroughly tested by a CTI-licensed testing agency for Certification and found to perform as claimed by the Manufacturer.

Facilities such as power plants, steel processing plants, petroleum refineries, or petrochemical plants usually install field erected type cooling towers due to their greater capacity for heat rejection. Field erected towers are usually much larger in size compared to the package type cooling towers.

A typical field erected cooling tower has a pultruded fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) structure, FRP cladding, a mechanical unit for air draft, drift eliminator, and fill.

A mechanical draft tower with a fan at the discharge (at the top) which pulls air up through the tower. The fan induces hot moist air out the discharge. This produces low entering and high exiting air velocities, reducing the possibility of recirculation in which discharged air flows back into the air intake. This fan/fin arrangement is also known as draw-through.

A mechanical draft tower with a blower type fan at the intake. The fan forces air into the tower, creating high entering and low exiting air velocities. The low exiting velocity is much more susceptible to recirculation. With the fan on the air intake, the fan is more susceptible to complications due to freezing conditions. Another disadvantage is that a forced draft design typically requires more motor horsepower than an equivalent induced draft design. The benefit of the forced draft design is its ability to work with high static pressure. Such setups can be installed in more-confined spaces and even in some indoor situations. This fan/fin geometry is also known as blow-through.

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Fiberglass cooling towers offer many advantages over cooling tower systems constructed from other materials, and are a common choice for many industries. Fiberglass is a material made up of extremely fine glass fibers and a resin or polymer. It is manufactured as layers of thin fibers placed in such a way as to resist buckling and create stiffness.

Also known as glass reinforced plastic, fiberglass is a strong and durable material, making it an ideal choice for industrial cooling tower construction. Cooling towers are used to provide cooling or heat removal to water, other fluids and air within processing plants and some larger buildings. Using natural or mechanically forced drafts, cooling towers draw warm moist air into the atmosphere and leave the cooler air and/or water behind. Industries such as power stations, oil refineries, power generation facilities and water treatment plants all use cooling towers to aid in process heat removal.

Galvanized steel cooling towers minimise the operating, installation, and maintenance costs associated with both new and replacement cooling tower system projects. Standard design features minimise the costs associated with enclosures, support requirements, electrical service, piping, and rigging.

Colling towers where the air travels up vertically through the fill.

Cooling towers where the air travels horizontally through the fill.

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With splash fill, evaporation occurs from the surface of a water droplet while it falls mid-air. This is used best with dirty water applications.

With film fill, evaporation occurs from the surface of a water film on the fill sheet.