An experimental study on an induction enhanced flow cooling tower

Cooling towers set up in rows often result in insufficient separation, and short circuit flow of wet air can cause lower performance of cooling tower. However these methods of mist prevention are often costly in equipment or energy. This study set up a full scale cooling tower experiment to test the effects of using velocity recovery (VR) stack and an innovative flow induction design. Openings at around the fan inlet were used to induce wet air directly to the fan inlet. This flow induction was to reduce the wet air return and to prevent excess mist formation. It was found that opening ratio of 0.95% had good effects compared to the original design. The use of VR stack was found to increase the flow by 7.5%, reduce the wet air return by 22.1%, and also increase the capacity by 4.6%. The combination of VR stack and induction opening can reduce the wet air return by 67.7% and increase the capacity by 6.6%. Flow visualization supported by psychrometric analysis showed that humidity at the tower outlet decreased after mixing with the induction flow. The deviation from saturation point has the effects of mist prevention, and proved the effectiveness of this innovative design.