Study of the Technologies for Freeze Protection of Cooling Towers in the Solar System

Jingnan Liu, Lixin Zhang (), Yongbao Chen, Zheng Yin, Yan Shen and Yuedong Sun ()
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Jingnan Liu: School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Lixin Zhang: School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Yongbao Chen: School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Zheng Yin: Cooling Equipment Branch of China General Machinery Industry Association, Beijing 100097, China
Yan Shen: Shanghai Tongchi Heat Exchanger Sci-Tech Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200433, China
Yuedong Sun: School of Mechanical, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-11

Abstract: A cooling tower is an important guarantee for the proper operation of a solar system. To ensure proper operation of the system and to maintain high-efficiency points, the cooling tower must operate year-round. However, freezing is a common problem that degrades the performance of cooling towers in winter. For example, the air inlet forms hanging ice, which clogs the air path, and the coil in closed cooling towers freezes and cracks, leading to water leakage in the internal circulation. This has become an intractable problem that affects the safety and performance of cooling systems in winter. To address this problem, three methods of freeze protection for cooling towers are studied: (a) the dry and wet mixing operation method—the method of selecting heat exchangers under dry operation at different environments and inlet water temperatures is presented. The numerical experiment shows that the dry and wet mixing operation method can effectively avoid ice hanging on the air inlet. (b) The engineering plastic capillary mats method—its freeze protection characteristics, thermal performance, and economics are studied, and the experiment result is that polyethylene (PE) can meet the demands of freeze protection. (c) The antifreeze fluid method—the cooling capacity of the closed cooling towers with different concentrations of glycol antifreeze fluid is numerically studied by analyzing the heat transfer coefficient ratio, the air volume ratio, the heat dissipation ratio, and the flow rate ratio. The addition of glycol will reduce the cooling capacity of the closed cooling tower.

Keywords: solar system; cooling tower; dry and wet mixing operation; engineering plastic; freeze protection (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: 2022
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