Performance Analysis of the Natural Draft Cooling Tower in Different Seasons

Abstract

Cooling towers are the biggest heat and mass transfer devices that are in widespread use. In this paper we use a natural draft counter flow cooling tower in investigating the performance of cooling tower in different seasons. The humidity is defined as water particles present in air. The humidity is the major factor in the atmosphere, it depends upon ambient temperature. Humidity is high in winter season and low in summer season. The performance of the natural draft cooling tower is dominated by wind speed, ambient air temperatures and humidity in the atmospheric conditions. When the humidity is high in atmosphere, large quantity of water is required for cooling condensate. When humidity is low in atmosphere, small quantity of water is required for cooling condensate. The value of relative humidity in the atmosphere varies from place to place and season. The different losses in the cooling tower such as drift losses, evaporation losses and blow down losses can be calculated. The maintenance of cooling tower in the form of removal of scale or corrosion plays important role in the performance of the tower. The performance of the natural draft cooling tower of 500 MW is evaluated.