L1s - Cooling Towers

What is a cooling tower?

A cooling tower rejects heat from condenser water to the atmosphere, primarily through evaporation. Warm condenser water enters the tower and cooler water leaves the basin and returns to the chiller.

What are major cooling-tower components?

Fans, fan motors/VFDs, fill, spray nozzles or distribution basins, drift eliminators, louvers, cold-water basin, makeup-water system, blowdown, strainers, basin heaters, and water-level controls. Fill increases water-to-air contact; drift eliminators reduce water droplets leaving with exhaust air.

What is "range" on a cooling tower?

Range = entering hot-water temperature - leaving cold-water temperature. It tells you how much the tower cooled the water.

What is cooling-tower "approach"?

Approach = leaving condenser-water temperature - outdoor wet-bulb temperature. A smaller approach generally means the tower is getting closer to the theoretical evaporative-cooling limit.

What should be commissioned?

Fan rotation, fan staging/VFD control, water distribution, basin level, makeup water, basin heaters, alarms, vibration, condenser-water temperatures, tower isolation valves, low-level safeties, and freeze-protection sequences.