A simplified model of a mechanical cooling tower with both a fill pack and a coil

¹ University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Engineering, Energy & Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings, Campus Groenenborger, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium
² University of Antwerp, Faculty of Applied Engineering, Op3Mech, Campus Groenenborger, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium

^* Corresponding author: freek.vanriet@uantwerpen.be

Abstract

Cooling accounts for a large amount of the global primary energy consumption in buildings and industrial processes. A substantial part of this cooling demand is produced by mechanical cooling towers. Simulations benefit the sizing and integration of cooling towers in overall cooling networks. However, for these simulations fast-to-calculate and easy-to-parametrize models are required. In this paper, a new model is developed for a mechanical draught cooling tower with both a cooling coil and a fill pack. The model needs manufacturers' performance data at only three operational states (at varying air and water flow rates) to be parametrized. The model predicts the cooled, outgoing water temperature. These predictions were compared with experimental data for a wide range of operational states. The model was able to predict the temperature with a maximum absolute error of 0.59°C. The relative error of cooling capacity was mostly between ±5%.