Performance of a cooling tower with the use of a new kind of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)‎ packing

Abstract EN

This research work deals with the performance of high-density polyethylene sheets arranged in splash used as a fill for a cooling tower.

“A forced-draught counter flow cooling tower” of 400 mm × 400 mm cross-sectional area and 1.7m in height was built.

The fill has been studied theoretically and experimentally.

Air rates of 0.6, 1.2,and 1.8 kg/s.m2 were utilized with water flow rates within the range of 1 to 1.6 kg/s.m2.The overall volumetric heat transfer coefficient, volumetric mass transfer coefficient (Mt), and the tower characteristics (Mt/L) are shown to be functions of the air as well as water flow rates, concurrently.

Four available input parameters used were inlet water temperature, air flow rate, water flow rate, and height of the fill.

A computer program was prepared to perform numerical analysis for reducing data sets obtained from the plant.

In addition, analysis was carried out for evaluating the volumetric heat and mass transfer coefficients along with the performance coefficient.