Cooling Tower Design Calculation Software

After many years of Cooling Tower design and production, we want to share our experience with people that are working in this field. We have developed an instrument, useful and easy to handle, for the quick and secure design and calculation of a project.

Abstract A survey of wet cooling tower literature was performed to develop a simplified method of cooling tower design and simulation for use in power plant cycle optimization. The theory of heat exchange in wet cooling towers is briefly summarized. The Merkel equation (the fundamental equation of heat transfer in wet cooling towers) is presented and discussed.

The cooling tower fill constant (Ka) is defined and values derived. A rule-of-thumb method for the optimized design of cooling towers is presented. The rule-of-thumb design method provides information useful in power plant cycle optimization, including tower dimensions, water consumption rate, exit air temperature, power requirements and construction cost.

In addition, a method for simulation of cooling tower performance at various operating conditions is presented. This information is also useful in power plant cycle evaluation. Using the information presented, it will be possible to incorporate wet cooling tower design and simulation into a procedure to evaluate and optimize power plant cycles. A complete, detailed analysis of wet tower/once-through hybrid cooling systems was carried out to give the most economical system arrangements and the optimum tower size for power plants on the Missouri River. To establish the design, performance, and cost of the optimum cooling system, a computer program was developed which gave the thermodynamic and economic performances of hybrid cooling systems.

The objective was to maximize the permissible river heat assimilation capacity using different hybrid cooling system arrangements. An EPRI-funded, experimental evaluation of two types of advanced, air-cooled ammonia condensers for a phase-change dry/wet cooling system for electric power plants is described. Condensers of similar design, but much bigger, are being tested in a 15 MWe demonstration plant at the Pacific Gas and Electric Kern Power Station in Bakersfield, California. These condensers, featuring different air-side augmentation, were tested in Union Carbide's ammonia phase-change pilot plant (0.3 MWe). The first unit consisted of the Curtiss-Wright integral shaved-fin extruded aluminum tubing designed for dry operation. Heat transfer and air-side pressure loss characteristics were measured under varying air face velocities (600 to 1000 FPM) and initial temperature differences, ITD (20 to 60/sup 0/F).

Overall heat transfer coefficients (based on air-side surface), U, ranged between 7.0 to 8.6 Btu/hr ft/sup 2/ F. The second configuration constituted the Hoterv aluminum plate-fin/tube assembly of which two different sizes (5 ft/sup 2/ and 58 ft/sup 2/ frontal area) were performance tested; in both dry and wet modes at 200 to 800 FPM air face velocities, ITD's of 10 to 60/sup 0/F and at water deluge rates up to 3.0 gpm/ft.

Of core width. In the dry mode, U's ranged from 7.0 to 12.0 Btu/hr ft/sup 2/ F. Increasing water deluge greatly enhanced the heat rejection capacity over dry operation - as high as 4 times, depending on operating conditions. This deluge augmentation was greater for lower air relative humidities and lower ITD's. A brief description of the recently completed ammonia phase-change dry/wet-dry cooling demonstration plant at the Kern Power Station concludes this document. The results are presented of a design and cost study for wet/dry tower systems used in conjunction with 1000 MWe nuclear power plants to reject waste heat while conserving water.

Design and cost information for wet/dry tower systems are presented, and these cooling system alternatives are compared with wet and dry tower systems to determine whether the wet/dry tower concept is an economically viable alternative. The wet/dry cooling tower concept investigated is one which combines physically separated wet towers and dry towers into an operational unit. In designing the wet/dry tower, a dry cooling tower is sized to carry the plant heat load at low ambient temperatures, and a separate wet tower is added to augment the heat rejection of the dry tower at higher ambient temperatures. These wet/dry towers are designed to operate with a conventional low back pressure turbine commercially available today. The component wet and dry towers are state-of-the-art designs.