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P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi
Pay material for Electric Power.
Natural Draught Cooling Tower
Artistic to Scientific Design of Cooling Towers
The art of evaporative cooling is quite ancient, although it
is only relatively recently that it has been studied
scientifically.
Merkel developed the theory for the thermal evaluation of
cooling towers in 1925.
This work was largely neglected until 1941 when the paper
was translated into English.
Since then, the model has been widely applied.
The Merkel theory relies on several critical assumptions to
reduce the solution to a simple hand calculation.
Because of these assumptions, the Merkel method does
not accurately represent the physics of heat and mass
transfer process in the cooling tower fill.
Parameters of Cooling Towers
A number of parameters describe the performance of a
cooling tower.
Range is the temperature difference between the hot water
entering the cooling tower and the cold water leaving.
The range is virtually identical with the condenser rise.
Note that the range is not determined by performance of
the tower, but is determined by the heat loading.
Approach is the difference between the temperature of the
water leaving the tower and the wet bulb temperature of the
entering air.
The approach is affected by the cooling tower capability.
For a given heat loading, water flow rate, and entering air
conditions, a larger tower will produce a smaller approach; i.e.,
the water leaving the tower will be colder.
Water/Air Ratio (m
w
/m
a
) is the mass ratio of water (Liquid)
flowing through the tower to the air (Gas) flow.
Each tower will have a design water/air ratio.
An increase in this ratio will result in an increase of the
approach, that is, warmer water will be leaving the tower.
A test ratio is calculated when the cooling tower performance
is evaluated.
a
v
m
m
-
-
= =
Air Dry of Flow Mass
Vapour Water of Flow Mass
e
a
u
a
a
a
a
M
T R m
T R m V p
-
-
= =
v
u
v
v
v
v
M
T R m
T R m V p
-
-
= =
|
|
.
|
\
|
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
|
|
.
|
\
|
= =
a
v
a
v
a
v
u
a a
u
v v
p
p
p
p
M
M
T R
V p M
T R
V p M
622 . 0
e
Thermodynamics of Air Water Systems
Humidity Ratio:
Local Cooling Tower Theory
Heat is transferred from water drops to the surrounding air by the transfer of sensible and latent heat
Global Conservation Laws for Evaporative Cooling
SSSF Model for Cooling Tower
Conservation of Mass for dry air:
air out air in air
m m m
= =
, ,
out air out air out water in air in air in water
m m m m
, , , , , ,
e e + = +
Conservation of Mass for water:
First Law Analysis:
( ) ( ) ( )( ) { }
fg i e i air steam p i air p e air steam p e air p
air
We W
CWe
W
CWi
h T C C T C C m
T C m T C m
Wi
e e e e + + +
=
-
- -
, , , , , ,
Enthalpy of Wet air
( ) ( ) { }
fg i i air steam p i air p fg e e air steam p e air p
air
We W
CWe
W
CWi
h T C C h T C C m
T C m T C m
Wi
e e e e + + + +
=
-
- -
, , , , , ,
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) { }
fg i air steam p i air p fg e air steam p e air p
air
We W
CWe
W
CWi
h T C C h T C C m
T C m T C m
Wi
+ + + +
=
-
- -
, , , , , ,
e e
( ) ( ) { }
i i moisture i air i wetair e e moisture e air e wetair
air
We W
CWe
W
CWi
p T f h p T f h m
T C m T C m
Wi
e e , , ( , , (
, , , , , ,
= =
=
-
- -
Local Heat and Mass Transfer in water air system
dz
dz
dT
T
dz
dz
dm
m
w
w
w
w
+
+
w
w
T
m
dz
dz
dh
h
dz
dz
d
m
a
a
a
+
|
.
|
\
|
+ +
e
e 1
( )
a
a
h
m e + 1
Local Air-side control volume of fill
( )dA T T h
a w
~
dz
dz
dT
T
dz
dz
dm
m
w
w
w
w
+
+
w
w
T
m
dz
dz
dh
h
dz
dz
d
m
a
a
a
+
|
.
|
\
|
+ +
e
e 1
( )
a
a
h
m e + 1
Mechanism of Heat Transfer in Cooling Towers
Heat transfer in cooling towers occurs by two major
mechanisms:
Sensible heat from water to air (convection) and
transfer of latent heat by the evaporation of water (diffusion).
Both of these mechanisms operate at air-water boundary
layer.
The total heat transfer is the sum of these two boundary layer
mechanisms.
The total heat transfer can also be expressed in terms of the
change in enthalpy of each bulk phase.
A fundamental equation o f heat transfer in cooling towers
(the Merkel equation) is obtained.
( )
air air a sa W W CW
dh m dV h h KA dT C m = =
The Merkel Method
The Merkel method, developed in the 1920s, relies on
several critical assumptions to reduce the solution to a
simple manual iteration.
These assumptions are:
The resistance for heat transfer in the water film is
negligible,
The effect of water loss by evaporation on energy balance
or air process state is neglected,
The specific heat of air-stream mixture at constant pressure
is same as that of the dry air, and
The ratio of h
conv
/h
diff
(Lewis factor) for humid air is unity.
Merkel combined equations for heat and water vapor
transfer into a single equation similar as
where:
kAV/mw = tower characteristic
k= mass transfer coefficient
A = contact area/tower volume
V = active cooling volume/plan area
mw = water flow rate
T
1
= hot water temperature
T
2
= cold water temperature
T = bulk water temperature
h
sa
= enthalpy of saturated air-water vapor mixture at bulk water temperature
(J/kg dry air)
h
a
= enthalpy of air-water vapor mixture (J/kg dry air )
}
= =
1
2
T
T
a sa w
M
h h
dT
m
kAV
Me