ANALYSIS OF AN INDUCED DRAFTCOUNTER FLOW COOLING TOWER

Abstract

Induced draft counter flow cooling towers are widely used in power plants and air conditioning installations to reduce the temperature of circulating water so that it may be reused in condensers and other heat transfer equipments.The performance prediction of induced draft cooling towers requires the understanding of the fluid dynamics and heat and mass transfer mechanism between hot water and ambient air. In the present work, a simple and efficient mathematical model has been developed in which energy equation, draft equation and pressure equation are solved. The main initial conditions required in the model are inlet air/water conditions, geometric parameters and fan parameters. The model predicts outlet air conditions, inlet mass flow ratio, evaporation loss, fan power requirements and various performance evaluation parameters like thermal efficiency, exergy destruction and second law efficiency. It was observed that wet bulb temperature of inlet air plays a significant r...