Balcke | Hamon Dry Cooling | Marley

Cooling Technologies

/ Mechanical Draught Cooling Towers /

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/ Reuse water instead of wasting it /

Test cooling tower at SPX Cooling Technologies’ researchand development centre

Consequently in addition to wetcooling towers we have created a wide range of products over theyears including hybrid and drycooling towers. Our thorough re-search work has produced out-standing results in these fields.

Mechanical draught coolingtower – the most frequentin the cooling tower sector

The mechanical draught cooling tower, also referred to as fan-typewet cooling tower, is the mostwidely used type of cooling tower.The required cooling air being conveyed through the tower byone or more fans. Different typesof mechanical draught coolingtowers have been developed usingthe same functional principle.

Sensible water manage-ment saves resources, reduces costs

Providing the required quantity of cooling water at any time and anywhere it is essential to operatecooling systems economically andecologically.

SPX Cooling Technologies,former Balcke-Dürr – a company with more than100 years of experience incost-saving cooling towers

From our extensive experiencewith a whole range of cooling systems we realize the importanceof attaching appropriate signifi-cance to research and develop-ment at our company.

Cooling tower around 1897

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/ Circular Cooling Towers /

Circular cooling towers with forced draught fans at acombined heat and power station

Circular cooling tower withforced draught fans

Three-dimensional model of circular cooling towers

Circular cooling towers –designed for heavier duties

Circular cooling towers are ideal toprocess larger cooling water flows.In this type of construction the fansare arranged in a circle around thecooling tower and force the airthrough it; the cooling air can alsobe drawn through the tower byone or several large fans.

Normally the natural buoyancy of the air contributes significantlyto the cooling air flow in circularcooling towers. Consequently, the electrical power requirement is relatively low.

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The materials – optimally matched to the re-quirements

A wide variety of building materialsis used for the cooling tower casingto meet the different requirementswith respect to service life, capitalexpenditure, locations, etc.

Concrete cooling towers have thelongest service life and can be builtalmost anywhere in the world incooperation with local companies.Cell cooling towers are built of in-situ concrete or pre-cast concretewith solid concrete walls or platecladding.

Cell cooling tower (timber construction)

/ Cell Cooling Towers /

Cell cooling towers – operating in all branches of industry

Cell cooling towers consist of one or several rectangular cells.Their fans convey the cooling airthrough the towers in induced orforced draught mode. Being themost frequent type built, cell cool-ing towers are widely used in allbranches of industry (e.g. in pow-

er stations, the chemical indus-try, refineries, steel works,

etc.). Typically three dif-ferent types of struc-

tural materials areused: concrete,timber and FRP.

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Timber cooling towers are specialin that they require minimal capital expenditure. They are often used in plants with short depreciation periods. The time required to buildthem is also less than for concretecooling towers.

FRP cooling towers are the currenttrend in both small and large cool-ing tower construction. The low-maintenance, corrosion-resistantand anti-fouling structure com-bines small investment and opera-tion costs with reliable service. The FRP cooling towers can also bedesigned for sea water applicationand as fire retardent construction.

Sea water cooling towers

Sea water cooling towers requirespecific and detailed knowledge in

Cell cooling tower (concrete construction)

Cell cooling tower (timber construction)

Three-dimensional model of aconcrete cooling tower

Cell cooling tower made of pultrudedfiber-glass profiles

design and execution. Aspects likesalt immission, material choiceand cathodic protection need to be considered. SPX CoolingTechnologies with its extensive experience in sea water operationof cell and circular cooling towersis the optimal partner for this kindof application.

Constructions tailored tospecial applications

SPX Cooling Technologies is alsothe ideal partner when custom-built cooling towers are required,such as cooling towers for acids orother problematic types of coolingwater in steel works, cellulose fac-tories, etc. Cooling towers whichhave to conform to particular erec-tion requirements also need to bestructurally flexible.

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The cooling fill is the most impor-tant part of a cooling tower, its“heart“ so to speak. As a contactsurface it must ensure optimumheat exchange between water andair. It is individually selected foreach particular application.

SPX Cooling Technologies coolingtowers are mostly designed ascounterflow cooling towers. In thisconstruction the water to be cooledtrickles from the top through thecooling fill whilst the air is drawn or forced through the fill from thebottom.

Cooling is achieved both through evaporation of a small quantity ofthe water, latent heat being takenfrom the cooling water flow, and also through transfer of heat fromthe water to the cooling air by convection.

Cooling fills – as varied asthe local water qualities

• Film fill made of plastic foils

glued or welded together

This fill achieves the greatestcooling effect and consequentlythe price/performance ratio ofthe cooling towers is extremelyfavourable. The cooling waterquality must, however, complywith stringent requirements.SPX Cooling Technologies hasoptimized its own types of foil fordifferent water qualities whichhave proven themselves in prac-tice (figures 1 and 2).

• Trickle grids or trickle blocks

made of synthetic material

A SPX Cooling Technologies fillwhich is not only robust and stable but also easy to clean.Cooling towers equipped withthis fill have been operatingsuccessfully for many years.Many operators prefer this fill because it is robust and less susceptible to fouling than foilpacks, although its thermalperformance is slightly lowerthan that of the SPX CoolingTechnologies foil (figure 3).

• Splash grids made of synthetic

material

A highly resistant cooling fill forpoor water qualities.

• Splash slats of timber or steel

For heavily contaminated coolingwater from production processes,e.g. in steel works or cellulosefactories. Cooling towers withouta cooling fill can also be used for this application.

/ The cooling fill – heart of the cooling tower /

Trickle block

Film fill (vertical)

Film fill (diagonal)

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High performance sprayer

High efficient drift eliminator

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/ Good water distribution – a must for every cooling tower /

Optimum water distribution playsan important role in the functioningof a cooling tower. The water distri-bution system consists of a maindistribution channel or pipe and thedistribution pipes or channels con-nected to it. Channels have the ad-vantage over pipes when heavilycontaminated water is used: theycan be cleaned much more easily.

High performance despitelow nozzle inlet pressure

Our sprayers are arranged on the pipes and channels. They distribute the water over the cool-ing fill as uniformly as possible, this being essential for the fill to function optimally.

As the distribution system spraysthe water downwards, only a lownozzle inlet pressure is required.Dirt particles in the cooling waterare constantly flushed out of thepipes. The entire system drains automatically and therefore freez-ing cannot occur in winter. Thesprayers are not susceptible to con-tamination.

Drift eliminators preventwater losses

Drift eliminators made of syntheticmaterial are installed above the water distribution system to prevent water droplets being en-trained. They ensure compliancewith the high elimination rates required in line with current envi-ronmental protection regulationseven for salt water applications.

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Cell cooling tower of concrete construction

SPX Cooling Technologies’ sprayer Drift eliminator

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/ Correct dimensioning of fans and machine sets –

just a question of experience /

Whether induced draught orforced draught function –“low-noise running“ is alsodecisive

We take the noise emission aspectinto account right from the very beginning. This question ariseswhen considering whether to use a cooling tower with induceddraught fans or one with forceddraught fans.

Being arranged in the lower sectionof the cooling tower, a forceddraught fan is located morefavourably from the point of viewof sound emission and it can oftenbe installed facing away from thesound measuring point.

Innovative fans render soundattenuators unnecessary

Ultra low-noise, slow-speed fanswith blades of fiberglass reinforcedplastic are of great significance today. In many cases such fans reduce the sound emissions suffi-ciently to do without sound attenu-ators or at least reduce the scopeand thus the expense of any soundattenuating measures required.

Designed for difficult conditions

The gears used are developed specially for the conditions prevail-ing in wet cooling towers (high airhumidity, drift, heavy loading, etc.).If necessary, the gears – like the driving motors – are constructedfor low noise emission or enclosed.V-belt drives are also used for forced draught fans with lower outputs.

The fans perform an importantfunction in the operation of a cool-ing tower: they draw or force thecooling air through the tower. It requires a lot of experience in the design and construction of boththe fans and the mechanical equip-ment to ensure reliable continuousfunctioning of a cooling tower. Ourexperts have gained this wealth ofexperience worldwide when plan-ning and constructing numerouscooling towers of all types, sizesand for all applications.

Frequency-controlled drivesreduce power consumption

Our mechanical units can beequipped with pole-changing orfrequency-controlled motors. Theair flow rate decreases in line withthe reduction in speed. This is alsoan advantage for winter operation.Depending on the design condi-tions, pole-changing or frequency-controlled drives also considerablyreduce the electric power con-sumption of the cooling tower over the entire operation periodbecause the power requirementdecreases sharply when the speedis cut. In order to ensure this high adaptability our cooling towers areprovided with optimized mechani-cal equipment to take account ofthe specific conditions.

Mechanical part of an induced cellcooling tower

Low-noise fans developed at SPX Cooling Technologies

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/The counterflow construction – just ideal in winter /

Our mechanical draught cooling

towers are designed for reliable

winter operation when the location

requires it.

The counterflow construction is animportant design feature to renderour cooling towers suitable for winter operation, because the cooling air first comes into contactwith the water trickling down andthen reaches the cooling fill.

In multicell systems it is possible to increase the temperature level by disconnecting cells stage bystage and discharging the uncooled water directly into the basin.

The possibility to lower the coolingair flow rate by reducing the fanspeed is also important.

Reliable even at minus 30° C

If the modes of operation men-tioned are combined in an appro-priate way, the cooling towers canbe operated reliably at air tempera-tures down to – 30°C. SPX CoolingTechnologies’ mechanical draughtcooling towers are used in manyregions with hard winters not leastbecause it is a known fact that theyoperate reliably in winter. They canbe found in Russia as well as inScandinavia or in the north of theUSA.

Standard mechanical draught

cooling towers produce a sound

emission level which, in locations

near residential areas, frequently

exceeds the limit values specified

in the relevant noise control regu-

lations. There are various types of

sound attenuation to prevent this:

• As mentioned above, themechanical equipment in ourcooling towers can be designedfor very low sound emission levels by using (ultra) low noisefans.

• If the required degree of attenua-tion is relatively low, sound

attenuation walls or earthwalls

are erected around the coolingtower.

• Droplet impact absorbers

arranged above the cold waterbasin also attenuate the impinge-ment noise from the falling water.

/To avoid noise pollution /

Cell cooling tower with sound attenuation wall

• If these measures are not suffi-cient, sound attenuators are installed at the air inlets andabove the air outlets, making itpossible to reduce the noise level considerably (refer to bot-tom picture on page 3).

SPX Cooling Technologies has ex-tensive expertise in sound-attenu-ated mechanical draught coolingtowers. Let us demonstrate to youhow effective sound attenuationcan be achieved in an optimumand economic way.

Control system – a guaran-tee for optimum operation

A very important factor to ensure

the best possible functioning of a

cooling tower is a mode of opera-

tion which is continuously adapted

to the prevailing conditions.

Fully automatic control of the cool-ing tower is the best way

• to minimize the power consumption of the fans

• to optimize the performance with varying loads

• to ensure reliable winter operation

• to reduce the personnel costs

A SPX Cooling Technologies teamof specialists experienced in bothcooling tower operation and controlsystems supports and supervisesthe planning and construction frommeasuring equipment right up to the complete control system forthe cooling tower and the cooling water treatment plant.

Together we are strong

Specialists for thermodynamics,hydraulics, process engineering, instrumentation and control, statics and civil engineering worktogether in our multidisciplinaryengineering team.

Our research and developmentcentre has state-of-the-art equip-ment and highly qualified personnelat its disposal to meet your requirements.

What is more we constantly ex-change information with institutesof technology and universities.Your assignments are therefore invery good hands at SPX CoolingTechnologies.

A competent partner. Even for unusual problems.

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/ Team-work to the benefit of our customers /

We also take care of the civil work

SPX Cooling Technologies is notonly competent to supply the ther-mal and hydraulic design of coolingtowers, we also apply our extensiveexperience and the required expert-ise to the civil engineering for thedifferent types of construction. Wecarry out the complete civil engi-neering at any site in cooperationwith local affiliated companies, licensees and other partners.

Circular cooling towerunder construction

SPX Cooling Technologies GmbHErnst-Dietrich-Platz 2 40882 RatingenGermanyPhone: +49 (0) 21 02 16 69-681 Fax: +49 (0) 21 02 16 69-699 cw@ct.spx.comwww.spx-ct.com

/ Worldwide Competence in Cooling /

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