Experimental Study on Inlet Air Cooling by Water Spray for Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers Enhancement

摘要

This paper deals with an experimental investigation of inlet air pre-cooling with water sprays aimed to enhance the performance of Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers during high ambient temperature periods. An open-circuit wind tunnel with a test 1×1 m~2 test cross section and length of 5.2 m was employed as an approximation to the inlet flow in a Natural Draft Cooling Tower. Experimental measurements of droplet evaporation and air cooling are presented. Nine high pressure, hollow cone nozzles were tested at various droplet sizes, air velocities (1, 2, 3 m/s), and injection rates under different ambient conditions. The water spray was characterized using a Phase Doppler Particle Analyser (PDPA). The effects of drop size distribution and air velocity on droplet evaporation and cooling effectiveness were investigated. The data shows clear trends of cooling with low air velocity or small droplet size distribution. It was found that the spray cooling efficiency, to a large extent, is dependent on spray coverage area. The experimental findings will benefit optimizing spray cooling performance in Natural Draft Dry Cooling Towers and nozzle arrangement.