Top 5 Significant Cooling Tower Parts and Components

Cooling towers play a significant role in every industrial process. Just like any other industrial equipment, cooling towers are also made up of different parts that work together to ensure the system functions effectively and efficiently. These parts need to be fixed or replaced a few times during the entire lifetime of the cooling tower. Here are some of them:

Cooling towers play a significant role in every industrial process. When industrial machinery and equipment are running at the same time, the amount of heat inside the industrial factory increases significantly. This increased heat will not only pose health and security risks to the factory workers and operators, but it will also increase the likelihood of industrial machinery and equipment to get damaged. Needless to say, when the industrial equipment gets damaged, the production rate will also decline. Not to mention the cost of cooling tower services and of repairing or replacing broken parts.

Just like any other industrial equipment, cooling towers are also made up of different parts. These parts work together in order for the cooling tower to function effectively and efficiently. Aside from the fan motor, water pumps, water supply basin, and the draft towers that we have already previously discussed, cooling towers also include other important parts. These significant parts usually need to be fixed or replaced a few times during the entire lifetime of the cooling tower. These parts include:

Drift reducers

The drift reducer or eliminator is one among the essential parts of the cooling tower. It is designed to capture and eliminate large water droplets in the air that are caught in the cooling tower air steam and to minimize loss of process water. The eliminator abruptly forces the mist and water droplets in another direction, redirecting them to another part of the system and preventing them from escaping the cooling tower. The moisture is then separated from the air and recycled for operational processes.

Driveshafts

The cooling tower driveshaft is the link that connects the input shaft of the gearbox and the electric motor. Its main purpose is to transmit power from the motor’s output shaft to the gear eliminator’s input shaft.

The driveshaft operates within the harmful environment inside the tower. With this, you need to pick a driveshaft that is highly corrosion resistant. It should also be well balanced or at least can be re-balanced whenever needed as it has to turn at full motor speed.

Cooling tower nozzles

The crossflow cooling towers usually come with nozzles. These cooling tower elements function by harnessing the power of gravity for water distribution. The main task of the nozzles is to get the warm water that needs to be cooled down and deliver it to the fill.

The water is usually pushed up to the dispersal reservoirs which are located on top of the fill media. The gravity will then help the water fall down through the fill media via the nozzles which are found at the bottom of the reservoirs.

Fill media

Another key element that affects the performance of a cooling tower is the fill media. In fact, this element is the most important factor that determines how well the cooling tower works. Modern designs of cooling towers utilize plastic fill media as they offer maximum water evaporation.

The fill media is a heat transfer medium that is used to increase the surface region available for the water. It helps make the hot water cool quickly by allowing more surface area between the sheet and the air. The fill distributes the water and flattens it out into a thin film across the surface area. This way, the heat, and the excess moisture will easily and quickly evaporate.

There are two main types of fill media used in cooling towers — the splash style and the film-style.

Splash style fill

The splash style fill breaks up the moisture. It is consists of a few layers of horizontal bars or slats. Traditionally, splash style fill media are made from wood but there are some modern designs that are made from PVC. Nowadays, more and more industries are trusting PVC-made splash style fill as it is more efficient and it allows better and faster heat transfer than the one made from wood. This type of fill is more ideal for industrial processes that generate dirty or poor quality water.

How does splash-style fill work?

The splash style fill works by spreading and breaking the warm water as it hits the bars’ surface. Small droplets are then formed, which increases the contact between the water and air. This makes evaporation and cooling accelerate faster.

You can use the splash style fill if you are dealing with poor quality water as it does not have any channel or parts where debris and dirt may be trapped or accumulated. The accumulated debris and dirt can reduce the medium’s efficiency.

Film-style fill

The film-style fill material or media is basically made from thin sheets of PVC material which are positioned close to each other. This fill is characterized by its corrugated pattern, flat, or textured surface where the water travels across.

Unlike splash style fill, film-style fill material cannot be used for dirty or poor quality water as it is made with parts where debris and dirt can be accumulated or trapped. Again, when debris and dirt from the water build up in the fill, the overall performance and efficiency of the cooling tower will be reduced. Needless to say, this fill material is more suitable for cooling clean and quality water. However, if the film-style fill material is the only available option you have and you need to cool dirty or poor quality water, you may choose to use the one with wider flutes. Regular cooling tower water treatment can also be of great help.

How does film-style fill work?

The film-style fill material creates a large surface area and distributes the water across a flat layer. As the hot recirculated water hits the fill, it will spread out and form a thin film, allowing more contact with the air. This enables the heat to evaporate faster, making the water cools down at an accelerated rate.

The primary function of the fill media, though, is to prolong the residence time of cooling water, to distribute water evenly, and to increase heat transfer area and heat dissipation. It helps optimize the cooling process of the cooling towers by making the surface area between the air and the water flow larger.

Over time, the fill media will get brittle or clogged. Some may lose their film during upgrades. When this happens, you need to have the fill media replaced. When choosing a fill media, you need to consider a few important factors. These are the vulnerability to contamination, total suspended solids or TSS levels, water composition, and intended use.

Gearboxes

The gearbox is the collection of gears attached to the cooling tower motor through the driveshaft. This important component transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy. It also serves as a speed reducer that helps slow down the rotational speed from the cooling tower’s incoming motor to the outgoing fan. The reduction of speed from the gearboxes acts as a torque multiplier. It also helps optimize the performance of the fan.

If the cooling tower you use does not have a gearbox, its motors should be gigantic enough to directly handle the fan’s torque requirement. Unfortunately, gigantic and high capacity motors are quite heavy and expensive, making it an impractical option for many industrial plants. With the gearbox acting as a torque multiplier, you can be able to make the overall mechanical system of the cooling tower more cost-effective and at the same time keep the motor smaller.

Power industries, companies that run chemical processes, and other businesses that operate high-capacity production plants, need to use cooling towers that are designed with large amounts of heat rejection capacity. In order to support the cooling tower’s variable strengths and fan speeds, the cooling tower suppliers made this element available in different styles and reduction rates.

The gearbox within the motor should be checked regularly to prevent corrosion. When rust starts to build up, the mechanical efficiency of both the motor and the gearbox will greatly decline. Rust build-up, if left unaddressed, can even lead to equipment failure. You can either buy a new gearbox or hire a professional to renew or restore the gearbox.

Apart from the five important elements of cooling towers mentioned above (gearboxes, fill media, nozzles, drift reducers, and driveshafts) and the other parts we already discussed before (fan motor, water pumps, water supply basin, and the draft towers), there are other parts that help cooling tower function well. This includes the reservoir heaters, electric float valves, and air intake louvers.