Tower doesn't work (part 2)

So, let's go in order by first verifying that the tower is adequate and built in the right manner. 

First perform the following checks:

• See that water sprinkling is uniform over the entire surface of the tower.
• From below, through the air intake area, or from the top by opening the water drop separator and see if the spray nozzles work well.
• Also check:
• to see that they are not clogged,
• that they have enough pressure,
• and that they're all there (at times too much pressure could blast a spray nozzle off the sprinkler system).
• See that water is sprinkled on a clean surface and there are no debris or pieces of limestone.
• Check pipes for occasional obstructions due to rags forgotten inside the tubes, small animals, leaves, etc.  

Example of dirty surface area

Moreover: 

When there are two or more fans there is a need to have at least one per cell. It's necessary that there are partitions between the cells, otherwise air passage is short circuited between the cells. This means that the air, rather than passing through the filling material, it will pass through the openings of the contiguous fan.

Example of partition per cell

Also check for occasional interruption of impeller's rotation (warn electric cables) and power to the engine air passage clogged with material.

Main features of TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panel - A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ in cooling towers

Mechanical resistance

The need for periodic cleaning has affected the strength and easy handling of the material. In fact, in order for people to perform ordinary and extraordinary maintenance operations without compromising the structure of the material, safety became indispensable.

Resistance to high temperatures 

In chemical reactors or in storage tanks it's necessary to be sure that any leaks from temperatures do not compromise safety. Even in the case of high temperatures (up to 110 ° C), TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels do not deteriorate and are able to accomplish their task. Moreover, because panels are not glued to each other, they do not get damaged when exposed to high temperatures and can be cleaned with steam jets.

Resistance to acids 

TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filling material for cooling towers can be washed in acids and used in the presence of acidic substances.

Variable geometry 

The panels can be placed horizontally, vertically or in any angle of inclination. Their position actually determines the efficiency of the material itself. Thanks to the panel's hooks, it's possible to get a great number of terms of performance just by varying the inclination. These hooks were designed to allow building solid structures and self-supporting.

Use with dirty water 

With TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panels it's possible to finally use cooling towers even with dirty water. The steps inside the single panel (it can be up to 50 mm wide) and the possibility to position them in various ways allow the presence of solid residues in the water flow. This is ideal for cooling liquids in the food industry and in industrial waters.

Spare parts for existing plants 

Thanks to TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panels versatility, they can adapt to any type of cooling tower without having to make any modifications to the existing structure.

Easy packing - Minimum encumbrance 

The TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panels are built to fit together one inside the other, and thanks to its location, size and shape of its baffles, they are able to optimize transportation space, taking less space. Suitable for Europallett, TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels take up little space in the warehouse and allow for easy business distribution.

Recyclable 

The material used for the TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels is fully recyclable and reusable, thus avoiding bio-ecological damages.

No clogging

The limestone formed by evaporated water or, even worse, other substances transported by the air, reduce the efficiency of the cooling tower and, as a consequence, increase the cost of operation. The wide steps with which they were built (up to 50 mm), effectively reduce those inconveniences due to encrustation or to particles that may obstruct the towers themselves.

The degree of inefficiency of the cooling tower is proportional to the inefficiency of ALL the facility for which the tower has been designed. Just imagine the malfunctions, lower production and disadvantages due to unplanned downtime.

With TURBOsplash PAC ®™ we're trying to limit these drawbacks. The payback period on the economical return for the TURBOsplash PAC ®™ installation is really very short.

The idea of TURBOsplash PAC ®™ - A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ in cooling towers

The research for the design and implementation of TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panels, carried out by the technical staff of the Italian company NERI S.r.l., lasted several years. In this period the staff performed several laboratory tests and installations in existing towers, both in Italy and abroad. The result was a technology innovation breakthrough in the sector.

In fact, TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panel doesn't have the limitations described in the previous post "Water cooling tower fill material, from wood to plastic".

After having identified the type of suitable plastic (polypropylene) for the panel, the technicians and engineers of NERI S.r.l. focused primarily on what form to give the filler panel. (See Fig. 1 and Fig 2 below).

The idea came about observing nature; more precisely, observing how the leaves of trees distribute the rainwater over the whole leaf for allowing easy evaporation, thanks to a greater contact surface area between air and water.

At first, the idea was to create a structure consisting of more baffles that could reproduce the function of tree leaves. The need to have the most surface of water meet the most amount of air, has pushed NERI S.r.l. engineers to develop a system that would be repeatedly shatter every drop of "hot" water from the time water enters the tower, causing it to disperse heat each time it goes through the splash and film mixing system.

The water drop going through the baffles of the panels loses speed and, thanks to air turbulence, cooling capacity increases at each passage.

This innovative material has been patented in Italy, in Europe, in the United States and other major industrialized countries. It has been adopted in cooling towers related to industries that produce food, chemical, pharmaceutical, mechanical, metallurgical, for the manufacture of materials plastics, rubber, paper, textile, electroplating.

The TURBOsplash PAC ®™ filler panels material is appreciated by many industries in different countries and over 300 thousand pieces have been sold. They are used in the air-conditioning plant industry, the refrigeration industry, in the purification of waste waters, in paint and water treatment in general. There have been numerous statements and documented evidence of companies that have adopted the TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels, finding clear and effective benefits in less than five years.

Section of a TURBOsplash PAC ®™ evaporation panel.

Fig. 1

The easy assembly of individual TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels allow pallets of dimensions 130 cm x 100 cm x 216 cm, containing 1000 panels.

Fig. 2

Efficiency do to air flow quantity‏ - The drawing illustrates the Efficiency difference between plastic sheets (12 and20 mm ) and TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels , both with dirty deposit and different thickness‏‏.

Fig. 3

Water cooling tower fill material, from wood to plastic - A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ in cooling towers

Wood, for a long time, was the most commonly used filling material in cooling towers. A very old method.

For hundreds of years, bundles of woods have been used and arranged randomly inside the tower. The system has evolved when wood plates were introduced and arranged in an orderly manner. But the use of wood brought many problems, such as lack of resistance and other problems related to chemical treatment for making them last longer.

In Europe, it was difficult to find suitable wood. America had an advantage because wood plates filling material was easier to find and to use for the scope of cooling towers. Moreover, it could be bought at a lower cost compared to the European market. 

So, for over thirty years, the whole cooling tower industry had tried to find viable alternatives to wood. First alternative was fill material made of paper (hot polymerized cellulose sheets soaked with phenolic resins). The main advantage of using this material was changing from splash system to film system on paper support. But, even this method brought many disadvantages: the fragility of paper limited its use and, moreover, once the channel between the sheets became clogged, it could no longer be cleaned. Hence, all material needed to be completely replaced.

From sheets of paper to plastic, achieving considerable success. The plastic sheets, inert and easily modeled, in the long run, have also presented some weaknesses in the evaporation process. Clogging presented one weakness during water passage and, even worse, air passage.

Assembly of these plastic sheets mono-blocks is generally carried out at the time of manufacturing and, hence, are huge in size. This has an impact on the final cost due to their transportation.

How do cooling towers work - A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ in cooling towers

The main function of cooling towers consists in cooling water with air flow through a widespread and prolonged contact. In addition to the processes of convection and conduction, heat exchange between water and air also takes place through a process called mass transfer, which is directly tied to water evaporation.

The amount of heat that can be transferred from water to air through this method is much higher than the one linked to convection and conduction.

Air circulation favors evaporation of small quantities of water, it absorbs the heat from the remaining water necessary in this state transition that, consequently, cools down.

Evaporation in cooling towers, namely the transfer of heat to the air, takes place thanks to the difference between water vapor pressure, in the air layer in contact with the water, and the vapor pressure of the remaining air.

An example of water and air working together for cooling water

A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ in cooling towers - Abstract

Water and air, these two elements have been used by mankind for thousands of years to improve their lives. Moreover, thanks to intelligent research and applications, these two natural elements have learned to live together influencing the evolution of humanity itself.

In fact, from prehistoric times to the present day, mankind has tried to exploit the capabilities of these two elements in every way possible; for example, by compressing them and mixing them, hence, allowing to use these characteristics in the fundamental processes of transformation.

The following diagram is an example of what happens in cooling towers when water is cooled by air:

Heating and cooling temperature domain systems were amongst the first applications to be used. These methods were based on the water evaporation phenomenon. The principle is still used today for making cooling tower function.

Other applications include electric power plants, industrial plants, greenhouses for agriculture, mining, etc.; but, often there is the problem of how to dispose of unused heat. In most cases this heat is disposed with water taken from rivers, sea, lakes.

Until a few decades ago, the heated water was taken back to the supply source. This approach caused an environmental impact too great for the community and, furthermore, considerable waste of energy. So, the concern was how to dissipate the heat without causing environmental damage and violating existing laws. This was a major issue in the industry world. What to do?

There were two alternatives:

(i) F‏irst, adopting a cooling "dry" system, for which it is necessary to use large quantities of air. In case of large plants, this would mean moving huge volumes of air with subsequent construction of complex surfaces for the exchange of heat.

(ii) Second, adopting a cooling "water" system that uses a mixture of air and water. The cooling water circulates in the system absorbing the heat. Hence, sent in cooling towers, it will come in contact with the air and, as a consequence, it cools down through evaporation (mass transfer). 

A cooling tower is an indispensable device for a lot of industries. In fact, they are the most economical solution because, thanks to water recycling, they allow for a low cost capital investment. This is precisely the reason why the tower plays an important and challenging role for obtaining an efficient cooling tower that is most economical.

The most important component of the cooling tower is the filling material, because it's decisive when it comes to increasing the contact surface and, hence, increasing the heat exchange interface between the two elements, air and water. Thus, having a good filler material means improving the performance of the same tower.

A record in technology with TURBOsplash PAC ®™ - Summary

The most common problems in evaporation towers for cooling industrial water concern mainly the filling material. Some essential characteristics that filling material need to address are resistance to high temperatures, periodic cleaning and also use in presence of dirty water.

TURBOsplashPAC ®™ panels have modular capabilities and can be assembled and configured to obtain optimum thermal performance.

  Single panel      

 Example of different configuration

In the following weeks we will be publishing a series of posts showing how TURBOsplash PAC ®™ evaporation panels, made by an Italian company, effectively addresses most major requirements, such as mechanical resistance, resistance to high temperature, resistance to acid agents, variable geometry, use of dirty water, spare parts for already installed system, easy packing with minimum encumbrance, recyclable, unobstructed.

An innovation adopted worldwide.

Evaporative Panels for all WATER COOLING TOWERS - Modular Polypropylene Injection Molded

TURBOsplash PAC ®™ is a bottom supported modular evaporation panel system for making cooling tower fill modules. 

TURBOsplash PAC ®™ panels are injection molded in polypropylene, constructed with a 300mm (@1 foot) by 600mm (@2 feet) U-channel framework and with a total of 38 blades molded perpendicular to this framework.

The panels are manufactured with molded-on spacer straps, which are used in conjunction with pins molded on the panel ends to stabilize different triangular structures in any of six density/widths.

Concerning Wet Bulb Temperature

What is Wet bulb ? Cooling tower cools water by evaporating some of the water, and water cannot evaporate once air is 100% saturated. At wet bulb temperature air is 100% saturated, therefore water cannot be cooled below wet bulb temperature. 

Computer Flow Design Processing

The following diagrams shows the change in static and dynamic pressure inside the TURBOsplash PAC fill material/evaporative panels, depending on the speed of the air.

CFD Processing

Appreciations for our blog

We like to thank everyone for visiting our blog and have shared our experience in Cooling Tower industry. Up to today, our blog "Cooling Tower", containing 84 posts, was seen approximately by 3000 visitors 7000 times, of which some visited the blog more than once.

Computer Flow Design Processing

The following diagrams shows the change in static and dynamic pressure inside the TURBOsplash PAC fill material/evaporative panels, depending on the speed of the air.

CFD Processing