Nobody wants to spend time in a place with poor air conditioning, especially during the summer. Maintaining a cool environment is crucial for commercial and industrial buildings, not simply for your employees’ comfort and productivity.
Continue reading to find out why a cooling tower could be the best option for your building instead of other HVAC and temperature control systems. You’ll also get tips on how to make the most of your cooling tower installation in Los Angeles.
Introduction to Cooling Towers
Cooling towers are heat exchangers that transmit heat from air conditioning systems outside to the surrounding air using water and air. They are most frequently utilized for removing heat from condenser water that is being removed from a chiller.
Cooling towers are typically found outdoors, such as on rooftops. Lower cooling system efficiency results from operations and maintenance technicians commonly ignoring them because they are typically out of sight.
Types of Cooling Towers
Cooling towers are essential to many industrial processes and HVAC systems that remove excess heat from water or other liquids. They come in various types, each tailored to specific applications and efficiency requirements.
Some of the most common types of cooling towers are:
Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers
These cooling towers use mechanical fans to induce airflow. There are two main subtypes:
- Induced Draft Cooling Towers: The fan is located at the top of the tower, drawing air through the tower and over the heat exchanger.
- Forced Draft Cooling Towers: The fan is at the tower’s base, pushing air upward through the heat exchanger.
Crossflow Cooling Towers
In crossflow towers, air moves horizontally across the falling water flow. Water is distributed over a fill material, and air flows perpendicular to the water flow.
These towers are commonly used in HVAC systems and small- to medium-scale industrial applications.
Counterflow Cooling Towers
Counterflow towers have air moving vertically upwards, opposite the falling water flow. The water is distributed from the top, and air is drawn from the bottom.
They are generally more efficient than crossflow towers due to better heat exchange, making them suitable for various industrial processes.
Factory Assembled Cooling Towers
Factory-assembled cooling towers are pre-fabricated units manufactured and assembled in a factory setting before being transported to the installation site. They are a convenient and efficient option for many applications due to their ease of installation and reduced on-site construction time.
These towers can come in various configurations and types, including crossflow and counterflow designs. They are often chosen for their ability to streamline the installation process and ensure consistent quality control during manufacturing.
Why install cooling towers?
In industries including steel mills, power plants, chemical processing facilities, and other manufacturing firms, cooling towers are crucial components of refrigeration and climate control systems. Commercial cooling towers are solid heat exchangers that use water to release waste heat into the atmosphere.
By installing a cooling tower, you can keep machines and processes operating efficiently and lower the risk of mechanical failure by preventing waste heat from building up in your business. Put another way, cooling towers reduce the need for repairs to maintain the functionality of crucial process machinery and the output of your business.
Large structures like airports, hotels, schools, and hospitals can also benefit from cooling towers controlling their internal temperature. Waste heat occurs in large quantities; the more people you have, the more heat you produce. Therefore, additional powerful heat-removal systems are required in large commercial buildings to ensure everyone’s comfort.
Anyone who has ever been to an airport, school, or office building knows how unpleasant these spaces can be if the air conditioning isn’t functioning correctly. In hospitals, temperature control can even save lives!
Where should you install a cooling tower?
It’s essential to consider your options carefully before installing a cooling tower in your building. A lot of commercial and industrial HVAC and climate control systems depend on cooling towers, which are pricey, robust, and very efficient climate control devices. Your decisions on cooling tower installation will affect how well your temperature control system works.
Where to put a cooling tower has been the subject of extensive investigation. Your building’s cooling efficiency will be compromised if you choose a less-than-ideal location. Additionally, cooling towers may make plenty of noise, and placing them in the wrong place could subject the residents of your building to obnoxious or distracting noise.
The key to choosing the right location for your Los Angeles cooling tower installation is to carefully evaluate your property’s needs and the wants and comfort of your occupants. The following are the top five best practices for installing cooling towers:
- Cooling towers perform best in shadowy areas where heat transfer won’t be impeded by direct sunlight. Select an area that receives frequent shadows from surrounding structures, trees, other topographical features, or your building. Choosing the north and east faces of the building or property is usually a wise decision.
- The tower releases heat into the atmosphere from the building, and the chiller tank, which gathers and transfers heat from the building to the tower, makes up the cooling tower’s system. The chiller is usually found at the basement level. However, if it has to be outside, its efficiency can be increased by positioning it where natural wind circulates through the building.
- Assess the cooling tower installation position concerning air intakes and wind patterns for optimal efficiency. Any air intake should be at least 25 feet from the cooling towers.
- Cooling tower installation ought to consider building acoustics into account. The noise produced by a chiller and cooling tower is not something anyone wants to listen to all day. When choosing a tower’s position, carefully consider how readily the sound will reach the people within your building.
- Both ground- and roof-mounted cooling towers are available. Installing a cooling tower requires careful consideration of your building’s structural stability, mainly if installed on the roof. Your cooling tower must be placed in a strong and stable location to handle its weight.
Choosing the right location for your cooling tower installation is crucial; you should approach it carefully. Installing cooling towers can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, so making an ill-considered choice is akin to squandering money.
It takes the knowledge of HVAC and cooling professionals, as well as the engineers and architects of your building, to choose a location that receives plenty of shade, fits into the natural wind flow surrounding the property, is distant from air intakes, shields your occupants against the noise of the tower’s operations, and can support the tower’s weight permanently.
Cooling Tower Installation Process
It’s time to start your cooling tower installation procedure when you’ve determined where best to locate the tower for your building. To maximize the efficiency of your cooling tower, you must consider numerous other factors throughout the installation process on the building or property.
There are various types of cooling towers available which are also being mentioned above, such as:
- Crossflow cooling towers
- Forced draft cooling towers
- Counterflow cooling towers
- Induced draft cooling towers
- Factory assembled cooling towers
Install The Cooling Tower’s Fill And Drip Device
Several essential components, including the cooling tower fill, depend upon your cooling tower. Plastic sheets called fills expand the tower’s surface area and can be used for heat exchange. Fills are available in various sizes, shapes, and patterns to optimize water evaporation. Ramp pattern kinds, diaphragm, paper honeycomb, and dot wave are a few examples of fill types.
The water-dripping tool, which comes in various sizes and shapes, is another crucial part. There are certain installation considerations for each kind of dripping device. Some are composed of plastic or wood. You can fix certain ones onto flat or angled steel brackets and concrete pillars.
Install A Water Distribution System
Your cooling tower might have a fixed or rotary pipe system installed for water distribution. The nozzle of fixed water pipe distributors is inclined downward. Consideration should be given to the nozzles’ orientation, angle, and separation from one another.
Install The Ventilation System For The Cooling Tower
The ventilation equipment of the cooling tower is necessary for its operation. Selecting the ideal ventilation equipment that suits your needs requires making decisions, just like in the first two processes. Cooling tower ventilation equipment comes in two varieties: induced draft and blowing type.
The induced draft type necessitates stricter waterproofing precautions for the motor cover and rotor, while the blown type needs a minimum of two meters between the fan and the tower.
Install The Drift Eliminator For The Cooling Tower
Installing the cooling tower drift eliminator completes the cooling tower installation process. The drift eliminator is essential to prevent water droplets from harming other cooling tower components.
How Long Does A Cooling Tower Installation Take?
Once the proper location has been found, installing a cooling tower usually takes around five to seven days to finish. If properly maintained, a cooling tower may operate at its best for fifteen, twenty, or even more years after its installation.
Our professionals at AirOstat, Inc. assist you with every step of the cooling tower installation procedure. We are experts who can guide you through every step of the installation process, from choosing the necessary equipment and supplies to where to put the cooling tower on the property.
We complete tasks quickly and accurately, and we’re available around the clock for any repairs, maintenance, or additional services you require to keep your brand-new cooling tower operating at its best for as long as feasible. Please get in touch with us now to find out more.
