Direct Forced Draft Fluid Cooling Tower

Abstract

A cooling tower is provided with a housing containing a fan at the bottom of the tower, and a plurality of layers of water collection troughs or channels above the fan to capture water droplets sprayed downwardly from the top of the device through an evaporative cooling pad located above the collection troughs. The collection troughs extend from one side of the housing to the other in the form of a structural support for the housing and the equipment therein. The troughs have open ends which extend through the housing to discharge collected water to an adjacent vertical tank.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 61 / 208,995 filed Mar. 3, 2009; 61 / 217,822, filed Jun. 5, 2009; and 61 / 270,723 filed Jul. 13, 2009, and U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 62 / 125,943 and 62 / 125,941 filed Mar. 2, 2015 and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 660,871 filed Mar. 17, 2015 which is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13 / 148,541 filed Sep. 13, 2011, which is a 371 of PCT / US 2010 / 024929 filed Feb. 22, 2010, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to modular direct forced draft fluid cooling towers using an improved air diffusing water drainage collection system as a structural member in such cooling towers and which modular towers can be connected together for increased capacity.DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART[0003]Conventional types of industrial cooling towers include so-called counterflo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent is about a water collection system for cooling towers that improves thermal performance while reducing the height and weight of the towers. The system uses low-pressure air to flow vertically up between the liquid collection troughs and into the cooling media, creating an efficient air to liquid mixture. This eliminates the need for sumps, basins, or reservoirs below and around the bottom fans of the towers, reducing the cost of manufacturing and health and safety risks associated with water equipment. The system also allows for easy transport and temporary uses. Additionally, the patent describes an improved large-scale cooling tower that facilitates cleaning.

Problems solved by technology

Such collecting sumps or basins are typically built below grade of concrete, are expensive to construct and time consuming to build.

They require the use of vertical pumps and below grade piping which add further expense.

In addition such sumps become sediment basins that have to be cleaned periodically, with great difficulty.

The latter are the most expensive and, consequently, share only the upper end of the market.

Often they are rectangular in shape and require large internal horizontal structural members, vertical columns, braces and tie lines to support the tower's internal parts and side walls, thereby significantly adding to expense.

Such internal structural elements result in the need to cut and notch the typical fill material used in cooling towers in the field.

This is not only expensive but when replacement is required repairs are difficult and expensive.

Moreover the down coming water can channel in or contact the support members thereby reducing thermal efficiency.

Indeed it has been found that conventional concrete cooling towers can cost about two and one half that of stick built towers.

These basins or sumps are typically very large because they have to contain enough liquid to charge the cooling system in which this cooled liquid is used, including all associated piping.

Such basins are maintenance intense and require workers to enter and work in a confined space to perform cleaning.

These generally consist of a series of trough like devices that convey the water to an internal gutter which then directs the water to the sump or basin, thus occupying additional space in the tower, reducing the tower's cooling capacity.

In addition to the issues of sedimentation and liquid volume, previously proposed tower systems have not adequately addressed the problem of air diffusion by their respective liquid collection systems.

The fans in such systems are, of course, round and the air is not evenly distributed across the tower media or elements since the fans do not deliver a balanced air flow.

These factors significantly affect the quality of the air entering the tower and thus reduces thermal performance of the tower.

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