HEAT TRANSFER AND PSYCHOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF A COUNTER-FLOW WET COOLING TOWER

Abstract

Heat exchange takes place between two fluids (such as water and air or water and steam) in a cooling tower. A cooling tower (CT) is a critical element of the condenser unit. It plays a major role in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the condenser. The CT has a variety of application and is widely used in petroleum refineries, chemical plants, steam power plants, nuclear power plants, processing plants, textile industries, etc. The impact of environment on the performance of CT plays a major role as it varies with temperature and humidity of the ambient condition. In the present work, a counter-flow wet cooling tower (CFWCT) operation under humid circumstances has been compared both experimentally and numerically. The performance analysis of the CT is carried out for such parameters as evaporation loss and energy loss from water to air. The temperature ratio (TR) and the effectiveness (&epsilon;) of CT are analyzed with the variation of the water flow rate (<i>m</i>_&omega;), air flow rate (<i>m</i>_a), water temperature (<i>T</i>_&omega;), and air temperature (<i>T</i>_a). The cooling tower temperature profile is determined by numerical analysis through ANSYS Fluent along the fluid flow path. The numerical analysis of CFWCT is validated with the experimental results. The present work will contribute to the literature of the design and performance analysis of cooling tower.