What Is A Cooling Tower Used For?

In urban building complexes and industrial parks, those devices with fans on top and cylindrical or box-shaped appearances - cooling towers - may seem unremarkable, but they play a crucial role in production and daily life. In simple terms, a cooling tower is a device that cools circulating water through heat exchange between water and air. It is widely used in industrial production, commercial buildings, public facilities and other fields, and is a "cooling tool" to ensure the efficient operation of various systems.

I.COOLING TOWER: "Temperature Regulators" in Industrial Production

In heavy industries such as steel, chemical engineering and power, cooling towers are indispensable supporting equipment. Take thermal power plants as an example. When steam turbines are in operation, they generate a large amount of waste heat, which needs to be carried away by the circulating water system. The cooling tower is responsible for cooling the circulating water that has absorbed the waste heat from around 40℃ to below 30℃, so that it can return to the unit to participate in heat dissipation. A 600MW generator set needs to cool thousands of tons of circulating water through a cooling tower every hour. If the cooling efficiency is insufficient, it will directly lead to a decrease in the output of the unit or even its shutdown.

In chemical production, the cooling of equipment such as reaction vessels and distillation towers also relies on cooling towers. Many chemical reactions need to take place within a specific temperature range. Excessively high temperatures can cause the reactions to get out of control or the products to deteriorate. The cooling tower, with its stable cooling capacity, ensures that the temperature fluctuation of the circulating water is controlled within ±1℃, providing a fundamental guarantee for production safety.

II. COOLING TOWER:The "Air Conditioning Backing" for Commercial Buildings

The central air conditioning systems of large commercial buildings such as shopping malls, hotels and office buildings can continuously output cold air in summer, and the cooling towers play a significant role in this. When the refrigeration unit of a central air conditioning system (such as screw machines and centrifugal machines) is in operation, the condenser generates a large amount of heat. This heat is transferred to the cooling tower through the cooling water. The air flow driven by the fan takes away the heat, lowers the temperature of the cooling water, and then returns to the condenser, forming a closed-loop circulation.

A 100,000-square-meter commercial complex has a cooling tower that needs to process hundreds of tons of cooling water per hour. If the cooling effect is poor, it will cause the air conditioning cooling capacity to drop by more than 30%, not only affecting indoor comfort but also causing the energy consumption of the unit to soar. Therefore, the stable operation of cooling towers is the core guarantee for cooling in commercial buildings during summer.

III.COOLING TOWER: "Invisible Guardians" of Public Facilities

Public facilities such as hospitals, data centers and sports venues also rely significantly on cooling towers. The precision medical equipment such as MRI machines and CT machines in hospitals generate continuous heat during operation and require a constant-temperature cooling system to maintain a stable working environment. The low-temperature circulating water provided by the cooling tower is the "core of the cold source" for such systems.

As the "engine of the digital age", data centers generate astonishing heat through server clusters. A medium-sized data center's cooling system needs to remove hundreds of thousands of kilowatt-hours of heat every day. When cooling towers are combined with precision air conditioners, they can complete heat dissipation with an efficiency of over 40% more energy-efficient than traditional air-cooling systems, while reducing noise in the machine room and creating conditions for the stable operation of equipment.

IV. COOLING TOWER:Working Principle of Cooling Towers: Simple yet efficient

The core working principle of a cooling tower is "evaporative cooling + convective cooling". Hot water is evenly sprayed from the water distribution system at the top of the tower. When flowing through the honeycomb-shaped packing layer, a water film is formed, which fully contacts with the cold air drawn in by the fan at the bottom of the tower - part of the water evaporates and absorbs heat, reducing the temperature of the remaining water. Meanwhile, the temperature difference between hot water and cold air forms convective heat transfer, further carrying away heat. The cooled water is collected in the water collection pool at the bottom of the tower and then retransported to the equipment that needs to be cooled by a water pump, completing the cycle.

According to the air flow pattern, cooling towers can be classified into mechanical ventilation type (forced ventilation by fans) and natural ventilation type (natural convection formed by the rise of hot air). Mechanical ventilation cooling towers are widely used in urban buildings and small and medium-sized industrial scenarios due to their high efficiency and small size. Natural ventilation cooling towers (such as the hyperbolic cooling towers in power plants) are suitable for occasions that need to handle extremely large water volumes, and a single tower can cool tens of thousands of tons of circulating water per hour.

V. COOLING TOWER:Environmental Value of Cooling Towers: Guardians of Water Resource Circulation

Today, with water resources becoming increasingly tight, the water-saving role of cooling towers is particularly important. Traditional direct current cooling systems (such as directly extracting river water for cooling and then discharging it) not only consume a large amount of water resources but also cause thermal pollution. The cooling tower adopts a closed-loop circulation. Apart from a small amount of evaporation and drainage, over 95% of the water can be reused. A medium-sized cooling tower can save hundreds of thousands of tons of water each year.

Meanwhile, modern cooling towers continuously reduce energy consumption by optimizing the structure of the packing and the efficiency of the fans. The operating noise of the new ultra-low noise cooling tower can be controlled below 55 decibels, which not only meets environmental protection requirements but also reduces the impact on the surrounding residents.

From industrial production to daily life, cooling towers, though low-key, are indispensable. It ensures the stable operation of various equipment through its highly efficient heat exchange capacity and plays a significant role in water and energy conservation at the same time. Understanding the functions and values of cooling towers can help us more clearly recognize the significant importance of this "cooling tool" to the operation of modern society.