University of Zakho

College of engineering
Mechanical department

Experiment No (6)
Study the Effect of Water Flowrate on the
Cooling Tower Performance

Name: Sarkaft Muhager Samad

Stage: 4th

Group: B

Date: 21/12/2020

Dec-2020
Introduction:
The cooling tower is one of the most important devices in industrial applications
and it is used to cool the warm water coming from the heat exchanger (condenser)
in the thermal power plant by contacting unsaturated air.
In a typical water cooling tower, warm water flows counter current to an air
stream. Typically, the warm water enters the top of the packed tower and cascades
down through the packing, and leaving at the bottom.
Air enters at the bottom of the tower and flows upward through the descending
water. The tower packing consists of a plastic or packed bed. The water is
distributed by troughs and overflows to cascade over packing that provides large
interfacial areas of contact between the water and air in the form of droplets and
films of water. The flow of air upward the tower can be induced by the buoyancy
of the warm air in the tower (natural draft) or by the action of a fan. The water
cannot be cooled below the wet-bulb temperature. (See Fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Steam Power Plant with Cooling Tower

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PURPOSE:
To study the effect of water flow rate on the Approach to Wet Bulb, cooling range,
and the efficiency for cooling tower.

APPARATUS:
The apparatus consists of the following components and instruments (Figure 1):-

1. Air distribution chamber.

2. A tank with heaters to simulate cooling loads of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 kW.
3. A make-up tank.
4. A centrifugal fan with intake damper.
5. Pump.
6. A water collecting basin.
7. An electrical control panel.
8. Packed column.
9. Column cap.
10. Temperature indicator.
11. Inclined tube manometer.
12. Variable area flow meter.

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 Fig. 1: Cooling Tower Apparatus

THEORY:-
Approach to wet bulb: The difference between the temperature of the water
leaving the tower and the wet-bulb temperature of the air entering.

Cooling Range: The difference between the water temperature at the entry to and
exit from the tower.
𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 (𝐓𝟓−𝐓𝟔)
Cooling Tower 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 % = ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎 = (𝐓𝟓−𝐓𝟐) ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎
(𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞+𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡)

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Experimental Procedure:
1- Fill water in the make-up tank, the level of the water should always be greater than the
mark of minimum level on the load tank.
2- Fill water at two positions of the wet-bulb temperature (inlet and outlet air positions).
3- Switch on the experiment.
4- Open the cover of the air intake damper to set the flow of air rate such that the pressure
drop through the tower is (16mm) H2O.
5- Set water flow rate at (20 g/sec, 30 g/sec, 40 g/sec, and 50 g/sec).
6- Keeping the flow of air rate and cooling load constant during the test, (air flow rate
(16mm) H2O and cooling load 1kw). And when conditions have stabilized for each
water flow rate, reading all temperatures.
7- Calculate the cooling range and approach to the wet bulb of the cooling tower for each
state.
8- Calculate the efficiency of the cooling tower for each state.
Test No. 1 2 3 4

Cooling Load, kw 1 1 1 1

Water Flow Rate g/sec. 20 30 40 50

Orifice Differential mm H2O 16 16 16 16

Air Inlet Dry Bulb Temp. T1,°C

Air Inlet Wet Bulb Temp. T2,°C

Air Outlet Dry Bulb Temp. T3,°C

Air Outlet Wet Bulb Temp. T4,°C

Water Inlet Temp. T5,°C

Water Outlet Temp. T6,°C

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Readings:

Test No. 1 2 3 4

Cooling Load, kw 1 1 1 1

Water Flow Rate g/sec. 20 30 40 46

Orifice Differential mm H2O 16 16 16 16

Air Inlet Dry Bulb Temp. T1,°C 19.3 19.5 19.1 19

Air Inlet Wet Bulb Temp. T2,°C 15.8 16.3 15.7 15.6

Air Outlet Dry Bulb Temp. T3,°C 20.4 22.2 22.3 22.1

Air Outlet Wet Bulb Temp. T4,°C 19.3 18.9 18.6 18.5

Water Inlet Temp. T5,°C 34 29.7 28.4 27.1

Water Outlet Temp. T6,°C 21 21.6 21.5 21.7

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Calculation
Calculation for first reading:
𝑇1 = 19.3℃ 𝑇2 = 15.8℃ 𝑇3 = 20.4℃ 𝑇4 = 19.3℃ 𝑇5 = 34℃ 𝑇6 = 21℃
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 20𝑔/𝑠 𝑜𝑟𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 = 16𝑚𝑚 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 = 1𝑘𝑊

Calculate the approach to wet bulb:

𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = (𝑇6 − 𝑇2)
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = (21 − 15.8)
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = 5.2℃

Calculate the cooling range:

𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = (𝑇5 − 𝑇6)
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = (34 − 21)
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = 13 ℃

Calculate the efficiency of the cooling tower:

𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆
𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚% = × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
(𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 + 𝑨𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉)
𝑇5 − 𝑇6
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 % = × 100%
𝑇5 − 𝑇2
34 − 21
𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 % = × 100%
34 − 15.8
𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 % = 71.42%

Results

Test No. 1 2 3 4
Approach to wet bulb ℃ 5.2 5.3 5.8 6.1
Cooling range ℃ 13 8.1 6.9 5.4
Cooling Tower Efficiency % 71.42 60.44 54.33 46.95

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Discussions
1- State all temperatures of the experiment with a water flow rate in a chart.
And discuss the results.
Test No. 1 2 3 4
Water Flow Rate g/sec. 20 30 40 46
Air Inlet Dry Bulb Temp. T1,°C 19.3 19.5 19.1 19
Air Inlet Wet Bulb Temp. T2,°C 15.8 16.3 15.7 15.6
Air Outlet Dry Bulb Temp. T3,°C 20.4 22.2 22.3 22.1
Air Outlet Wet Bulb Temp. T4,°C 19.3 18.9 18.6 18.5
Water Inlet Temp. T5,°C 34 29.7 28.4 27.1
Water Outlet Temp. T6,°C 21 21.6 21.5 21.7

Chrt between Temperatures with water flow rate

50

45
Water flow rate (g/s)

40
T1

35 T2
T3

30 T4
T5

25 T6

20

15
10 15 20 25 30 35
Temperatures (℃)
In our results, when Water flow rate increase then water outlet temperature and air
outlet dry bulb temperature increases. It means, with increasing flow rate of water
it increase temperature of water that flow to bottom the pack and dry bulb
temperature that flow to the top.

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2- Make a chart between the approaches to the wet bulb and cooling ranges
with water flow rates, and discuss the results.
Test No. 1 2 3 4
Approach to wet bulb ℃ 5.2 5.3 5.8 6.1
Cooling range ℃ 13 8.1 6.9 5.4
Water Flow Rate g/sec. 20 30 40 46

Chart between the approaches to the wet bulb and cooling ranges
with water flow rates
50
Approach to wet bulb and cooling range ℃

45

40

35

30

25

20

15
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Water flow rate g/s Cooling Range Approach to wet bulb

Relation between Approaches to the wet bulb and cooling ranges are inversely
with increasing cooling range the approach of wet bulb decrease.
So as we seen in the chart when water flow rate increase then approach of wet bulb
temperature increase and cooling range decreases.
Approach of bulb temperature decrease, because water outlet temperature increase
and air inlet dry bulb temperature decrease with increasing water flow rate.
Cooling range decrease, because water inlet temperature decreases and water outlet
temperature increase with increasing water flow rate.

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3- Discus the results in a chart between the efficiencies of the cooling tower
and water flow rates in a chart.
Test No. 1 2 3 4
Water Flow Rate g/sec. 20 30 40 46
Cooling Tower Efficiency % 71.42 60.44 54.33 46.95

Chart between the efficiencies of the cooling tower

and water flow rates
75

70
Cooling Tower Efficiency %

65

60

55

50

45

40
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Water flow rate (g/s)

When water flow rate increase the efficiencies of the cooling tower decrease,
the relation between water flow rate and efficiencies of the cooling tower
inversely. And at last experiment the values of the efficiencies of the cooling
tower increased because air flow rate increased, so it mean water flow rate
decrease the efficiencies of the cooling tower and air flow rate increase the
efficiencies of the cooling tower.

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