Evaluation of the Hot Air Recirculation Effect and Relevant Empirical Formulae Applicability for Mechanical Draft Wet Cooling Towers

Haotian Dong, Dawei Wan, Minghua Liu, Tiefeng Chen, Shasha Gao and Yuanbin Zhao
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Haotian Dong: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China
Dawei Wan: Shanghai Electric Power Station Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200000, China
Minghua Liu: Shanghai Electric Power Station Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200000, China
Tiefeng Chen: Guodian Zheneng Ningdong Power Generation Co., Ltd., Yinchuan 750408, China
Shasha Gao: Jinan Lanchen Energy Technology Corporation Ltd., Jinan 250100, China
Yuanbin Zhao: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: Due to the hot air recirculation, the inlet air enthalpy h1 of mechanical draft wet cooling towers (MCTs) was usually greater than the ambient air enthalpy ha. To realize the cooling performance and accurate design of MCTs, this paper clarified the feasibility of the inlet air enthalpy empirical formula presented by the Cooling Technology Institute (CTI) of the USA. A three-dimensional (3D) numerical model was established for a representative power plant, with full consideration of MCTs and adjacent main workshops, which were validated by design data and published test results. By numerical simulation, the influence of different wind directions and wind speeds on hot air recirculation (HAR) and the influence of HAR on the cooling performance of the MCTs were qualitatively studied based on the concept of hot air recirculation rate (HRR), and the correction value of HRR was compared with the calculated value of the CTI standard. The evaluation coefficient η h , representing the ratio of the corrected value to the calculated value was introduced to evaluate the applicability of the CTI formula. It was found that HAR was more sensitive to ambient crosswind, and an increase in HRR would deteriorate the tower cooling performance. When the crosswind speed increased from 0 to 15 m/s, η h , changed from 2.42 to 80.18, and the calculation error increased accordingly. It can be concluded that the CTI empirical HRR formula should be corrected when there are large buildings around the MCTs, especially under high-speed ambient crosswind conditions.

Keywords: mechanical draft wet cooling towers; hot air recirculation rate; Cooling Technology Institute; evaluation coefficient; ambient wind (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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