How Do Cooling Towers Work?
A crossflow cooling tower is an evaporative heat extraction/rejection device. Usually, the transfer uses water to move the heat out, which has been heated by an air-conditioning condenser or some type of industrial process.
Instead of using air to remove heat, larger building cooling systems and industrial processes will use water evaporation to transfer heat out of the system. The type of system typically pairs a chiller or industrial process device with a cooling tower. Like the condenser used in your home’s central AC system, the chiller is a machine that removes heat from the building. A piped water loop runs through the building, picking up heat along the way, which is circulated though the chiller to be cooled.
Water Control System
A cross flow cooling tower may account for 3/4 or more of the water use in a commercial building. Evaporation takes away pure water, leaving behind the minerals. This requires constant dumping and replenishing of water to keep the system mineral content at an acceptable level so as to prevent scaling. Scale inhibitors are used in some systems, but accurately measuring both the quality and levels of the system are absolutely critical to be able to both properly maintain the system and for improved water use efficiency and heat transfer efficiency. Scale formation, even in the slightest of forms can drastically reduce the heat transfer efficiency of these systems. An integral and essential part of this is controlling the water levels using the right product.
