Cooling towers are made of different cooling tower parts with various functions whose health status corresponds to the performance of the cooling process. Now, aside from conditions of tower parts, the cooling tower efficiency would essentially depend on the climatic conditions, particularly the relative humidity of the ambient air and its wet-bulb temperature.
Cooling Tower Efficiency Calculations
There are two factors that contribute to the calculation of cooling tower efficiency, namely the range and approach of the cooling tower. As was previously mentioned, the efficiency of the tower is highly related to the ambient wet-bulb temperature. The cold water temperature would ideally equal this wet-bulb temperature.
Of course nothing can be perfect in this word, and in this case it is because such an ideal situation can only be achieved by having a very large tower which is not only infeasible but also has its own problems such as large amounts of evaporation and windage (more on this in the upcoming sections).
Cooling Tower Approach
The cooling tower approach is the difference between the cold water temperature at the outlet of the tower and the ambient wet-bulb temperature. This measure is one of the important factors contributing to the cooling tower efficiency.
Approach = Cold Water Temperature – Wet Bulb Temperature
Cooling Tower Range
Another indicator of the cooling tower efficiency is the cooling tower range, which is calculated by subtracting the tower’s outlet water temperature from the hot water temperature at the inlet of the cooling tower.... Read More