Comparative Study of the Heat and Mass Transfer Characteristics between Counter-Flow and Cross-Flow Heat Source Towers

Abstract

The heat source tower (HST), as a cleaner energy production, which can absorb the low-grade energy from ambient air to drive the heat pump unit without emissions has attracted more and more interest. In addition, HST has excellent economic applicability by using cooling tower equipment, which was idle in winter. However, there are few studies on comparative analysis of thermal behavior between counter-flow and cross-flow HST. A mathematical model suitable for both HST types was developed to identify the performance discrepancies between them. Then a parametric study was carried out in order to investigate the impact of solution and air as well as packing material properties on energy transfer of HSTs. Finally, the characteristics of solution dilution and dehumidification were investigated. As the inlet solution temperature increases, increases first, then decreases gradually, but a transition point occurs in the solution at −5 °C. Moreover, the transition section of moisture transfer direction for counter-flow HST was located in the 0.78 m and 0.26–1.56 m of packing material height, under the condition that the air relative humidity was 50%. In summary, this work intuitively indicates the thermal performance difference between counter-flow and cross-flow HST, also could assist the selection of proper operating conditions in HSTs.