Optimal design of a counter flow cooling tower using PSO algorithm for operating cost minimization

This study aims at computing the optimum conditions for a counter flow cooling tower such that the operating cost is minimized. Consequently, an optimization model is employed and validated to be used in further studies. The unit prices for water and electricity were taken for industrial applications in Egypt. A 4-ODE model describing the mass and heat transfer within a counter flow cooling tower is solved numerically employing the shooting method. The model is solved under the MATLAB platform. Particle swarm optimization algorithm is successfully implemented for the optimization problem. The results show that at heat load corresponding to 940.5 kW, the minimum operating cost corresponded to 15.7% increase when the area of the fill was increased from 5.5 m2 to 8.5 m2. The operating cost due to make-up water compromised the majority of the operating cost. The percentage decrease in the operating cost corresponded to 17.2% and 5.6% for an increase of 0.3 m in length (0.6-0.9 m) and (0.9-1.2 m) respectively.