Studies and Experimentation on Cooling Towers: A Review

Cooling tower is one of the important utility in chemical industries. Normally they are used to dissipate heat from heat sources to heat sink. The cooling of hot effluent and process water is required from reuse and environmental point of view. Induced, forced and natural draft cooling towers are used according to the requirements in industries. Natural draft cooling towers use atmospheric air. In forced draft cooling air is forced into the tower using blower. In induced draft cooling towers, air is sucked from other end. The water cooling happens because of humidification of air. The heat lost by water is heat gained by air. Water recirculation is also important aspect in the cooling towers. The effectiveness of cooling tower depends on flow rates of air and water and water temperature. Minimization of heat loss is one of the important aspect of studies carried out by various investigators. The interfacial area between air and water is also crucial factor in cooling towers. Three types of packings used in cooling towers are film, splash and film-grid packings. Also it was observed that drift is one of the important losses in cooling towers. Various shapes of cooling towers are tried by various investigators to study effectiveness. Hyperbolic shape was advantageous due to higher area at bottom. It provides aerodynamics, strength, and stability. The present review is aimed at summarizing studies and research on cooling tower for increasing efficiency and power savings to make it more economical and efficient.