Experimental research of the guiding channels effect on the thermal performance of wet cooling towers subjected to crosswinds - Air guiding effect on cooling tower

The thermal performance of a natural-draft wet cooling tower model with inlet airflow guiding channels under crosswinds conditions was monitored and experimented. Three patterns of the air guiding channels with different setting angles (including 60 degrees, 70 degrees and 80 degrees) were tested under various crosswinds velocities. The results show that the air flow rate and the cooling efficiency increase remarkably after the inlet air is directed. On the basis of testing data, some thermal performance parameters including the Lewis factor, the heat and mass transfer coefficient were also calculated and analysed. The results indicate that the Lewis factor ranges from 0.95 to 1.15, which is in accordance with the data of other literatures. Besides, it is found that the optimum setting angle for the air guiding channels is 70 degrees, and it does not change with the channel quantity which ranges from 18 to 88. However, it should be noticed that although the guiding channels with 70 degrees setting angle lead to better cooling performance, they may cause more circulating water consumption. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.