The cooling tower is an advantageous heat rejection device in commercial cooling applications. Basically, this type of system is designed reject the waste heat in business operations to the atmosphere through evaporation. In simple terms, water is used to absorb the heat from the HVAC systems or even industrial machinery. The heated water is cooled by air as it passes over an area known as fill. This is a structure that breaks the droplets of water to increase the surface area for evaporation. There are numerous types of cooling towers in the market, so choosing the right match can be challenging. Here are the main factors that you should consider when purchasing an ideal cooling tower.
Factory-Assembled vs. Field-Erected
As implied, the factory-assembled cooling towers are constructed and put together in factory settings. The prefabricated modules are then transferred into the installation site using large trucks. Most of these towers are small and compact, so their capacity in terms of cooling is low. Therefore, this is an ideal choice if your commercial operation has few cooling demands. Field-erected towers are built primarily in the site of installation. The process can be more time-consuming compared to the aforementioned alternative. However, this type of design allows the contractor to install larger towers for better cooling.
The cooling tower requires a constant flow of air for the evaporation process. Therefore, it is important to consider the draught generation aspect before choosing the ideal cooling tower. Natural draught towers utilise the intuitive movement of air in the column for cooling. In simple terms, the upward movement of warm air in the tower will draw in cooler air from outside. This is an inefficient choice because the draught generated it quite weak. Ideally, you should choose a mechanical draught cooling tower. This type has fans that are driven using power motors to draw cooling draughts through the tower. There is also a hybrid type that uses both the natural flow of air and fans, so consider the design.
Cross-flow vs. Counter-flow
The efficiency of a cooling tower will depend on the interaction between cold air and the hot water that has collected heat around the building. This interaction can be classified into cross-flow and counter-flow. In the cross-flow, the air and water flow at right-angle to each other. The counter-flow alternative forces air and water to flow in literal opposite directions alongside each other. The latter is more efficient in heat rejection during evaporation while the cross-flow is cheaper to install and operate.
To learn more about your options, contact local companies like Marley Flow Control Pty Ltd.