Performance characteristics of a downward spray water-jet cooling tower

The performance characteristics of a new type of cooling tower, which is called water-jet cooling tower, are analyzed using experiments and numerical simulations. The water-jet cooling tower would be designed as a modified wet cooling tower, operating without fill and fan. A comparison of the water-jet cooling tower test results with those of the model simulation has demonstrated the validity of that simulation and its use as a design tool. For the preliminary study, we chose tower spray zone height (H), water to air flow rate ratio (L/G), droplet diameter (dd), discharge droplet velocity (vd), and air velocity (va) as the variation parameters. The results indicate that exergy values and 2nd law efficiency are normally sensitive to reasonable variation in dd, L/G and H, but do not respond greatly to reasonable variation in vd, and va. It is also found from the present calculation that the evaporation share of the total energy transfer and that of the total exergy supplied seems to have influence on the tower's performance.