1.

Objectives
The objectives of this experiment was to investigate the effect of air velocity on
wet bulb approach and to check the pressure drop through packing.

2.0

Abstract

The processes of cooling water are among the oldest known. Usually water is
cooled by exposing its surface to air. These processes all involve the exposure
of water surface to air in varying degrees. The heat-transfer process involves
latent heat transfer owing to vaporization of a small portion of the water and
sensible heat transfer owing to the difference in temperature of water and air. In
this experiment, we have to study of the effect of air velocity on wet bulb
approach and pressure drop through the packing. The experiment was done with
four different sets of orifice pressure drop values which are 100%, 75%, 50%
and 25%. Based on the result, we had to calculate the value of nominal velocity
and wet bulb approach. The values of nominal velocity air keep decreasing
while the values of wet bulb not remain persistent. The average value of wet
bulb is 280.00K. Then, the pressure drop through packing is decreased when
the nominal velocity decreases. Therefore, it was showed the cooling tower was
worked in optimum condition based on theoretical. Basically, common
applications for cooling towers are providing cooled water for air-conditioning,
manufacturing and electric power generation.

3.0

Data

Table A

Description

Unit

Air Flow
100%

75%

50%

25%

m-1

110

110

110

110

Air inlet wet bulb,

T1
Air inlet dry bulb,
T2
Air outlet wet bulb,
T3
Air outlet wet bulb,
T4
Water inlet
temperature, T5

22.7

23.0

23.1

23.2

30.1

30.4

30.5

30.4

31.0

29.4

29.3

29.9

29.6

28.6

28.6

29.7

41.7

37.3

36.3

36.5

Water outlet
temperature, T6

30.5

28.9

28.9

29.7

Orifice differential,
DP1

Pa

87.0

63.0

43.5

22.0

Water flow rate, FT1

LPM

Heater power, Q1

Watt

1000

1000

1000

1000

Pa

38.0

23.6

17.5

11.0

Packing density

Pressure drop across

packing, DP2

Table B

Air flow

100%

75%

50%

25%

Nominal Velocity of Air,

m/s
Wet Bulb Approach, K

0.4298

0.3640

0.3027

0.2158

7.80

5.85

5.80

6.50

Pressure, mm H2O

3.8749

2.4065

1.7845

1.1217

y = 5.0889x + 4.818
R = 0.2477

Wet bulb approach, K and Packaging pressure drop, mmH2O

wet bulb approach vs.

nominal air velocity

4
y = 12.432x - 1.7817
R = 0.9278

packing pressure drop vs.

nominal air velocity

0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Nominal air velocity, m/s

Fig. 3.1: Wet bulb temperature and Packing pressure drops versus Nominal air velocity

4.0

Discussion

When warm liquid is brought into contact with unsaturated gas, part of the liquid
evaporates and the liquid temperature drops. The most important application of
this principle is in the use of cooling tower to lower the temperature of
recirculated water used for condensers and heat exchangers in chemical plants,
power plants and air conditioning. Cooling towers are large-diameter column
with special type of packing designed to give good gas-liquid contact with low
pressure drop. Warm water is distributed over the packing by spray nozzles or
a grid of notched fans, or in some design it is drawn through by natural
convection. In counter-flow tower air enter below the layer of fill and passes
upward counter current to the flow of descending water. This is a more efficient
arrangement for heat transfer and permits a closer temperature approach. The
most common type of packing for new installation is cellular fill or film-type
packing, which consist of corrugated sheets of plastic similar to those used in
plate type heat exchanger. The reduction in water temperature in cooling tower
comes mainly from evaporation, although when air temperature is low, there is
also some sensible heat transfer to the air. However, even when the air is warmer
than the water, water can be cooled by evaporation if the wet-bulb temperature
is below that of the water. In practice, the discharge temperature of water is 5 to
15F (3 to 8C) above the wet-bulb temperature, and this difference is known
as the approach. The change in water temperature from inlet to exit is known as
the range, and the range is generally 10 to 30F (6 to 17C). The performance
of a cooling tower depends on the approach of the cold-water to the wet-bulb
temperature of air, packing pressure drop and the velocity of entering air. From
the tabulated result, the nominal velocity of air for orifice pressure drop at
100%, 75%, 50% and 25% are 0.4298, 0.3640, 0.3027 and 0.2158 m/s
respectively. The nominal velocity is observed to decreases along with
decreasing pressure drop.

When the wet-bulb temperature is measured, heat transfer and mass transfer
take place at steady state with gradients. The flow of heat the interface just
matches that needed for evaporation of the water that diffuses as vapour into the
bulk gas. There is no significant gradient in the liquid, which remains at a
constant temperature. By contrast in a cooling tower, the water temperature
changes as droplets pass through the tower, and it is necessary to consider heat
flow in the liquid phase as well as heat and mass transfer in the gas. Typical
gradients at the bottom and top of the cooling tower are sketched in Fig. 4.1. At
the bottom, the air temperature can be greater than the water temperature (Fig.
4.1) (a), but the water is being cooled because the interface temperature Ti is
lower than bulk water temperature Tx. The humidity at the interface is greater
than that in the bulk gas, which provides a driving force for mass transfer of
water vapour.

If the inlet air temperature is less than the exit water temperature, as in Fig. 4.1
(b), the gradients are similar in shape, but there is less sensible heat transfer
through the gas film. In all cases, the interface temperature must be above the
wet-bulb temperature, since if Tx = Tw all the heat for vaporization would come
from the gas, and there would be no temperature gradient in the water and no
cooling of the water. As the air passes up through the tower, the air temperature
might decrease for a short distance, but it will eventually increase as the air
contacts warmer and warmer water. At the top, the gradient might be shown in
Fig. 4.1(c).

Fig 4.1: Condition in cooling tower: (a), (b) at bottom of tower, (c) at the of
tower

Heat transfer from the water to the interface is used to warm the air as well as
to provide heat of vaporization, although the water cooling due to evaporation
is much greater than that from sensible-heat transfer to the air. The exit gas
temperature is usually within a few degrees Fahrenheit of the inlet water
temperature. Wet bulb temperature were almost same for all four pressure drops,
280.00K. Theoretically, if the experiment were run under adiabatic conditions,
where by no heat is transferred from the tower to its surroundings, with adequate
air flow, the temperature of exiting liquid reached at steady state would be equal
to the wet bulb temperature of incoming air. Therefore, the cooling tower is
working optimally because the temperature of the exiting liquid is close to the
wet bulb temperature of outside air. Figure 3.1 shows the relationship between
wet bulb approach and packing pressure drops versus nominal air velocity.
Theoretically the two lines in the figure 3.1 must be intersect. But for our cases
it doesnt. This may cause of the some fault in the cooling tower unit. As the
nominal air velocity increases, wet bulb temperature remain constant but a
sudden increase in the pressure drop curve is observed. This changes occur
when the air entering cooling tower is lower, hence it delay the increase in heat
transfer.

5.0

Conclusion & Recommendation

From the experiment, it shows that as the nominal air velocity decreases the
pressure drop is also decreases. It also shows that nominal air velocity does not
have effect on wet bulb temperature as the temperature remain constant. It can
be concluded that nominal air velocity have effect on pressure drop through
packing but not on the wet bulb temperature. As a recommendation several
factors were identified as a key factors which can deviate the results of this
experiment. One of those was the water may contained some impurities because
the experiment was conducted with tap water, not distilled water and there must
be the impurities deposited in cooling tower which will reduce the efficiency of
the fan to blow out the air into the cooling system and it will let the water not
properly cooled down.

6.0

References

McCabe, W., & Smith, J. (2005). Humidification Operation. In Unit Operations

of Chemical Engineering (7th ed., p. 628). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Bedekar, S., Nithiarasu, P., & Seetharamu, K. (n.d.). Experimental investigation

of the performance of a counter-flow, packed-bed mechanical cooling tower.
Energy, 943-947.

J.Benitez (1998), Principles and Modern Applications of Mass Transfer

Operations.2nd ed.A John Wiley & Sons, Inc, Publication.

C.J.Geankoplis

(1997), Transport

Processes

and

Separation

Process

Principles.4th ed.Pearson Education: Prantice Hall.

C.E Thomas, (2009), Introduction to Process Technology: 3rd edition, Chengage

Learning.

7.0

Appendices

For Air flowrate 100%

Finding approach to wet bulb,
Approach to wet bulb = Outlet water temp. Inlet air wet bulb temp.
= 30.5 0C 22.7 0C
= 7.8 0C

Finding specific volume,

Based on air outlet wet bulb temp., T3 and air outlet dry bulb temp., T4
=

31.0 0C

304.15 K

29.6 0C

302.75 K

0.03

(2.83 x 10-3 + 4.56 x 10-3H) Tdb

0.8982 m3/kg

Twb

Tdb

Finding air mass flowrate

v

0.8982 m3/kg

38 Pa x

3.8749 mm H2O

0.0137

0.0137

0.02846 kg/s

0.10197162 mmH2O
1Pa

h
v
3.8749 mm H2O
3
0.8982 m kg

Finding volumetric flowrate

v

mv

0.02846 kg/s x 0.8982 m3/kg

0.02556 m3/s

Finding nominal air velocity

A

wh

15 cm x 60 cm

900 cm2

0.09 m2

v
A
3

0.02556 m s
0.09 m2

0.284 m/s