Cooling towers are widely used by many industries to deal with excess heat that is produced by manufacturing processes and other industrial activities. Put simply, a cooling tower is a device that works to lower the temperature of a water stream. This is done so that the hot water in circulation is cooled enough to be used again in the boiler. Most cooling towers rely on using evaporation to lower the temperature of the circulating water.
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Since , Marley Flow Control has been a proud industry leader in cooling tower manufacturing. An Australian-owned and operated brand, we offer a high level of expertise and an extensive range of ready to order products. Our wealth of knowledge has allowed us to work with some of the country’s largest businesses that we are pleased to call our clients.
As industry leaders, we have a high level of expertise and can provide a wide range of cooling tower services. If you need help with your cooling tower, contact our highly experienced team to discuss your options today.
Cooling towers can differ significantly based on size, build, materials used and mechanisms of operation. Understanding the differences between various cooling tower types is essential for choosing the right one for your needs.
Below we answer some important questions you might wish to ask before deciding which cooling tower would be best for you.
How is airflow generated in cooling towers?
Cooling towers operate by using constant and reliable airflow which can be produced and maintained in a variety of ways.
A cooling tower can operate using:
- Natural draft. Such cooling towers are constructed in ways that utilise the design of the tower to move the air up by using fans.
- Mechanical draft. These rely on a centrifugal fan or propeller pulling the air from the bottom. The fan is usually placed at the top of the tower and blows warm air out of the tower while also sucking in the cool and dry outside air.
Natural draft cooling towers – best uses
Cooling towers that use natural airflow are usually located outside, which allows them to release warm air directly into the environment. This is why these are normally used in industrial settings – such as power plants located near the load centres and away from the fuel source point. In such cases, using a natural draft cooling tower allows saving on the costs of power that would otherwise be needed to operate cooling fans.
Mechanical draft cooling towers – best uses
These cooling towers tend to be significantly smaller than natural draft towers, which makes them suitable for use inside the plants and other facilities. As you are also able to monitor and control the speed of the cooling fans, mechanical draft towers are preferred where capability control is important.
Also, as these towers use power to operate the cooling fans, they are widely used where cheaper power is accessible – for example, at power plants located close to the fuel source.
Climate conditions also need to be taken into consideration, as natural draft towers are not well suited for areas with long, hot, dry summers. In such cases, the air density difference that is needed for an efficient operation of natural draft towers is hard to achieve, so mechanical draft towers are preferred.
How is heat transferred in cooling towers?
Cooling towers can use dry heat or wet heat transfer methods.
Dry cooling towers – best uses
A dry cooling tower simply transfers heat through a surface separating hot water from the air. As no water evaporation occurs, no additional water is needed. Hot water from the condenser just keeps circulating through the tubes exposed to ambient air that absorbs its heat, cooling it down. Sometimes, fans are installed to improve the airflow.
As this type of heat transfer is quite inefficient and involves high energy usage, it is reserved for situations where water supply is limited – or where regulations specifically disallow any plume.
Wet cooling towers – best uses
Also known as open circuit cooling towers, these towers use the natural process of water evaporation as a cooling method. What is emitted as a result is just heated water droplets that cause no harm to the environment.
Wet cooling towers are very popular because of their cost-efficiency and use of renewable resources (water). They are most likely to be your first choice if you have access to an adequate water supply.
How are cooling towers constructed?
Depending on your needs, you can have your cooling tower field erected – or you may decide to go for a package type tower.
Field erected cooling towers – best uses
These are large non-transportable towers that weigh over 1,500 tonnes per cell and have a significant cooling capacity. Because of their size, they need to be assembled on site. These towers are also often built to custom specifications.
Power plants, oil refineries, petroleum sites and steel processing plants often use field erected cooling towers.
Package type cooling towers – best uses
These towers are smaller in size than field erected towers – so they are assembled at a factory and then can be easily transported to the usage site.
Facilities with comparatively low heat rejection requirements – such as office buildings, hospitals and shopping centres – normally use cooling towers of this type.
We can design, build, inspect and repair your cooling tower
Marley Flow Control offers a comprehensive range of cooling tower design, installation, inspection and repair services. We can repair both the fill and mechanical components of a cooling tower and offer an ongoing full functional annual assessment of your tower. We also provide comparisons between a comprehensive refurbishment or a new cooling tower.
Our team of highly experienced technicians has the skills and equipment to fit new motors, driveshafts, gearboxes and fans in the field, including long laser alignments of up to four metres.
In , everyone is feeling the climate change. For some, it means sweating more outdoor. For others, it means a sharp rise in air conditioning energy consumption costs in their commercial, industrial and even residential buildings. With global warming, as average temperatures keep rising, so does the demand for cost-effective and sustainable thermal management solutions.
Energy demand for space cooling has risen at an annual average of roughly 4% since (twice as quickly as for water heating) and is expected to triple by . Cooling towers are one of the most popular solutions when cooling down heat-intensive industrial processes and managing the temperature in diverse structural complexes.
What are Cooling Towers, and how do they work?
A cooling tower is a heat rejection device that extracts unwanted heat from a structure or machine and releases it into the atmosphere. It uses water to transfer the heat from inside the structure to the air outside. Cooling towers are used in industrial buildings that produce significant amounts of heat, such as power plants, refineries, and data centers. They also serve as parts of HVAC systems in large commercial structures like office buildings, shopping centers, hospitals, and hotels.
A broad selection of cooling tower designs and sizes is available for specific applications and varying ambient conditions. That said, all cooling towers aim to increase the contact area of cool air and hot water to achieve faster and more efficient cooling of equipment and indoor spaces.
What are the benefits of using Cooling Towers in your buildings?
Regardless of the type, make or model – cooling towers are cost-effective and highly sustainable air cooling systems. The main advantages of cooling towers over other types of cooling solutions include:
Higher Energy Efficiency
The natural effect of water-to-air heat transfer drastically reduces the electricity demand for cooling. This reduction translates to lower costs, lower power bills, and a decrease in your building’s carbon footprint. This sustainability component is essential if you plan to apply for sustainability certifications like the BREEAM certification.
In addition, modern cooling towers enable great customization and optimization with smart and connected IoT devices. These systems align the energy consumption of the pumps and fans with the required cooling output. Advancements in IoT devices provide real-time data and predictive analytics, improving process controls and enhancing operational efficiency.
Decreased Water Consumption
Traditionally, cooling towers use water to cool the air. However, as water has become a scarce (and increasingly expensive) resource, cooling towers have evolved to conserve it instead of waste it. Today, water towers can reuse gray water to help conserve water resources, and some can employ closed-circuit systems that re-circulate the water in the HVAC system, further contributing to water conservation. In addition, these towers can integrate with advanced water management technologies like the Wint Water Intelligence’s smart water consumption efforts.
The company is the world’s best Open Cooling Tower supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.
Wint offers a dedicated solution to prevent water waste in cooling towers. It lets you monitor water use at the cooling tower and alerts you when water waste is detected. It also fully integrates with API into other building management systems, making it easier to reduce water consumption, prevent leaks and costly repairs, and adhere to your sustainability policy.
In addition, many utilities across North America offer evaporative cooling credits for the monitoring of cooling towers. These credits incentivize the use of systems that enhance water efficiency by providing financial benefits for implementing advanced monitoring and conservation measures. A smart water management solution like Wint can be particularly valuable to increase water efficiency and take advantage of utility incentives.
[ Source: Wint – Water Intelligence ]
Low Maintenance and Long Service Life
Cooling towers feature a small number of complex moving parts and require minimal maintenance over their long service periods. When properly maintained, cooling towers can serve up to 20 years, making them a cost-effective cooling solution. This is especially true today, with modern cooling towers designed for automation, customization, scalability, space efficiency, and increased durability.
The 5 Types of Cooling Towers You Need to Know
The HVAC industry categorizes cooling towers according to several properties, such as:
- Air and water flow direction (vertical or horizontal)
- Source of air movement (mechanical fans or natural convection)
- Fan position and installation
- Heat transfer technique
- Build type
That said, there are five main types of cooling towers used today in commercial and industrial structures:
1. Natural Draft Cooling Towers
As the name suggests, natural draft cooling towers rely on natural air convection to cool the incoming hot water. Cold, dry air flows naturally through the tower and comes into contact with the warm, moist air that has absorbed heat from the hot water stream. The warm air will then naturally flow up, while the cold air falls to the splash fill on the bottom of the tower.
Typically used in large industrial facilities like chemical and power plants, natural draft cooling towers are tall, open chimney-like structures designed to enhance the natural air circulation patterns inside the tower.
One specific design of natural draft cooling towers often used at industrial facilities is the hyperbolic cooling tower. Its shape helps direct the airflow upward, making hyperbolic cooling towers exceptionally efficient, durable, and cost-effective, as they require fewer resources in their construction.
[ Source: COAL HANDLING PLANTS ]
2. Forced Draft Cooling Towers
Forced draft cooling towers employ internal fans to circulate air through the structure to increase its cooling efficiency. Usually utilized in HVAC systems in data centers and commercial buildings, forced draft cooling towers are costlier to deploy and run than natural-draft cooling towers but are more suited for indoor facilities and smaller spaces.
[ Source: FANS Complete Technology ]
3. Induced Draft Cooling Towers
Like forced draft cooling towers, induced draft cooling towers employ fans to pull air through the tower. They are usually larger than forced draft cooling towers with fans on top of the tower.
The name of this type of cooling tower hints at its operation mechanism: the fans located on top of the tower induce moist and warm air out of the tower’s air outlet at a high velocity. This process ensures the hot air is thrown far away from the tower to prevent heat recirculation.
[ Source: ScienceDirect ]
4. Crossflow Cooling Towers
In this type of cooling tower design, the air flows vertically while the water flows horizontally, allowing for more effective heat exchange processes. Often utilized in industrial and commercial HVAC systems, crossflow cooling towers are more efficient than traditional ones but are also more expensive to build and maintain over time.
Crossflow cooling towers use gravity to enhance water-to-air contact, so they need smaller pumps, which makes them more energy-efficient. These types of cooling towers are also more durable and flexible than others. They can ingest a variable water flow and are less likely to become clogged as they don’t employ pressurized water spraying.
5. Counterflow Cooling Towers
Counterflow cooling towers are most suited for extensive industrial facilities like petrochemical plants. In these towers, the water flows down vertically while the air is pushed vertically across the splash fill from the bottom to the top of the structure. These towers are more frost-resistant than crossflow cooling towers, and they use a similar approach to accomplishing effective water-to-air heat exchange.
The upward airflow means that counterflow cooling towers can’t use gravity-flow basins; they use pressurized nozzles to spray the water over the splash fill. This design usually means bigger pumps that are costlier to operate.
[ Source: JMP ]
How to Improve Cooling Tower Maintenance
While cooling towers are ideal for cost-effective large-scale cooling systems, several issues can arise throughout their lifecycle, especially if you don’t adhere to manufacturer requirements for regular maintenance and optimal operating conditions. Fortunately, there are ways to address and mitigate these issues:
1. Maintain Suitable Water Chemistry
When the water circulated through your cooling tower isn’t treated correctly, it can cause many problems that can result in costly repairs. These include corrosion, scaling, bacterial and fungal growth, and increased energy consumption due to the inefficiencies caused by improperly treated water. To prevent chemistry-related issues in your cooling tower, employ adequate water treatment methods according to the manufacturer’s specifications.
2. Address Mechanical Malfunctions
Most cooling towers employ mechanical components to pump water and circulate air. Mechanical malfunctions in these components, through wear-and-tear or damage caused by extreme events, are relatively easy to detect but expensive to resolve. Reduced efficiency and unusually high noise levels indicate a potential mechanical failure and may demand the attention of a professional.
To troubleshoot a malfunctioning cooling tower, inspect it to identify apparent issues such as leaks or damaged structures. Check the water levels and quality to spot any signs of contamination. If there are temperature issues, it’s worth reviewing the performance of fans, valves, and pumps and making the necessary adjustments.
Thermometers and other tools can help you identify the specific problem. Ensure all the tower’s controls and settings are correctly configured, and keep a regular maintenance schedule to minimize malfunction risks in the future. Maintenance can include, for example, replacing filtration media, cleaning filters, or monitoring water usage.
3. Detect and Instantly Stop Water Leaks
Water leaks within your cooling tower system are much harder to detect and potentially much costlier. Cooling towers use vast amounts of water during regular operation, and even a tiny leak can cost thousands of dollars if it remains undetected and unmitigated.
Moreover, with many cooling towers on the roofs of structures, undetected leaks can have catastrophic consequences on the whole structure, potentially causing exuberant costs in water damage mitigation. Water management solutions like Wint can help you save hundreds of thousands and up to millions of dollars annually by detecting water leaks and cooling towers system failures.
Additionally, the Cycles of Concentration (CoC) in cooling towers is a crucial factor for efficient operation. Cycles of Concentration refer to the ratio of dissolved solids in the blowdown water to those in the make-up water. Proper CoC management optimizes water use and minimizes waste. Water management solutions like Wint can help maintain optimal CoC levels by monitoring the flow of water in and out of the cooling tower, ensuring efficient operation and minimizing water waste.
Prevent Water Waste in Cooling Towers with Wint
Cooling towers are a simple but efficient solution for cooling the air in industrial and commercial structures. While they introduce numerous benefits, such as cost-effectiveness and sustainable heat waste management, common issues like water leaks can be challenging to resolve. With real-time leak detection technologies like Wint Water Intelligence, you can detect leakage and prevent water waste in your cooling towers.
Wint is an AI-powered Water Management solution that monitors water usage at the cooling tower and alerts you when the tower unnecessarily wastes water. It can also automatically stop water leaks by remotely shutting off the valve at the source, potentially saving you huge expenses on damage repairs and water waste.
Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Cooling Systems Manufacturers. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
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