Connection cooling tower and maintenance method of connection cooling tower

Abstract

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a connected cooling tower and a method for maintaining a connected cooling tower, whereby it is possible to manage connected cooling towers as a whole in the management of a cooling tower in which a plurality of cooling towers are connected, thereby improving maintainability. In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides a connected cooling tower and a cooling liquid for the same, characterized in that two or more cooling towers are connected, and there is no separator at the boundary between one of the two or more connected cooling towers and the adjacent cooling tower.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-108338 filed on June 30, 2023. The entire contents of the Japanese Patent Application are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The invention relates to a connected cooling tower and a maintenance method for the connected cooling tower. Background Art

[0003] The cooling tower allows cooling water to fall into the air flow and evaporates part of the water in contact with the air, thereby reducing the water temperature. The treated water to be cooled flows down along the surface of the filling material in the cooling tower and directly contacts the external air guided into the tower by the exhaust fan. The treated water contacts the external air while flowing along the surface of the filling material. Through the filling material, the treated water efficiently contacts the external air, and part of the treated water evaporates, thereby reducing the temperature of the remaining treated water.

[0004] A cooling tower has a tower body, a fan, one or more filling materials and a water tank as its basic structure. According to the required cooling capacity, a cooling tower with large cooling capacity is selected, or multiple cooling towers with the required cooling capacity are selected.

[0005] Generally, a cooling tower has a tower body, a fan, one or more filling materials, and a water tank as a basic structure in the smallest unit that can be operated (i.e., a cell). Depending on the required cooling capacity, a cooling tower consisting of a single cell that satisfies the cooling capacity is selected, or a cooling tower consisting of multiple cells that are equivalent to the required cooling capacity is selected.

[0006] Each cooling tower manufacturer provides a catalog with product models corresponding to cooling performance, etc. Cooling tower users sometimes select products from the catalog and connect and install multiple cooling towers of the same model according to the required cooling capacity, cooling tower installation conditions, and site conditions.

[0007] There is also a type of cooling tower in which the smallest operable units (ie, cells) of the cooling tower are connected and arranged in one tower body.

[0008] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-40672

[0009] Conventionally, there is a problem that in the case of a cooling tower having a plurality of fans in a tower body of a cooling tower, the internal space is partitioned for each fan, and the maintainability is poor. Also, there is a similar problem in a connected cooling tower formed by connecting a plurality of cooling towers.

[0010] Conventionally, there has been a problem that in the case of a cooling tower in which a plurality of units are connected, the space is partitioned for each unit, and when replacing the filling material, the outer panel of each unit needs to be removed separately, and the maintainability is poor.

[0011] For cooling towers with multiple units connected together, it is not possible to make a unified abnormality judgment for the connected cooling towers as a whole, and each unit is monitored independently. For example, performance deficiency caused by scale accumulation on the filling material occurs in each unit. Therefore, the abnormality judgment corresponding to the performance deficiency is also made for each unit, so it is impossible to manage the connected cooling towers in a unified manner. Summary of the invention

[0012] Therefore, the present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide a connected cooling tower and a maintenance method of a connected cooling tower that can manage the connected cooling towers as a whole to improve the maintainability.

[0013] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, one embodiment of the present invention provides a connected cooling tower, which cools liquid, characterized in that two or more cooling towers that are the minimum units and units that can operate as cooling towers are connected, and there is no partition at the boundary between one of the two or more connected cooling towers and another adjacent cooling tower.

[0014] According to the connected cooling tower, since there is no partition plate at the boundary between two or more adjacent cooling towers, it is possible to perform work such as replacement and cleaning of the filling material from one cooling tower, thereby improving maintainability.

[0015] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the linked cooling towers of the present invention in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the filling material included in the cooling towers is divisible.

[0016] According to this connected cooling tower, the following effects are achieved: since the filling material can be divided, a portion of the filling material can be removed according to the conditions of the working space inside the tower body, thereby enabling access to the parts required for maintenance. As a result, operations such as replacing the filling material or cleaning the filling material become easy, which can improve maintainability.

[0017] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the coupled cooling tower of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems, an abnormality determination unit for determining abnormality of a filling material and an exhaust fan of the cooling tower is provided.

[0018] According to the linked cooling tower, the operation of two or more linked cooling towers can be managed in a unified manner, thereby achieving overall optimization of the operating state of the linked cooling towers rather than partial optimization of the operating state of one cooling tower.

[0019] Furthermore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a maintenance method for connected cooling towers, the connected cooling towers including one cooling tower and another adjacent cooling tower, characterized in that the method comprises a step of maintaining the other cooling tower from a manhole of the one cooling tower.

[0020] According to the maintenance method of the connected cooling towers, a method is provided in which one cooling tower can be freely accessed from another cooling tower to perform integrated maintenance of the connected cooling towers. Thus, the maintenance of the connected cooling towers can be performed as a whole, thereby improving the efficiency of the maintenance work.

[0021] According to the present invention, in the management of cooling towers in which a plurality of units are connected together, the connected cooling towers are managed as a whole, thereby improving maintainability. In addition, a connected cooling tower and a maintenance method for the connected cooling towers can be provided, which can uniformly and efficiently manage the connected cooling towers as a whole with respect to the cleaning frequency and the replacement period of the filling material. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] Figure 1 It is a schematic explanatory diagram showing the structure of the connected cooling towers according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 2 It is a schematic explanatory diagram of an abnormality determination unit of a connected cooling tower according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 3 It is a diagram showing the function of the abnormality determination unit of the connected cooling tower according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] In the figure: 10-connected cooling tower, 10a, 10b-cooling tower, 11a, 11b-tower body, 12a, 12b-exhaust port, 13-spraying device, 14-water tank, 15a, 15b-exhaust fan, 16a, 16b-air supply port, 17a, 17b-louver, 18a, 18b-supporting structure, 21a, 21b-filling material, 31-water supply pipe, 32-drain pipe, 41-abnormality judgment unit, 411-data receiving unit, 412-storage unit, 413-calculation unit, 414-display unit. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Hereinafter, embodiments of the coupled cooling tower and the method for maintaining the coupled cooling tower according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] In addition, the connected cooling tower and the maintenance method of the connected cooling tower described in the embodiment are merely examples for explaining the cooling tower and the filling material according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0028] In this specification, treated water refers to water that is cooled in a cooling tower, that is, water that is received from outside the cooling tower and then circulated outside the cooling tower as cooling water. In addition, an exhaust fan is a blower that guides the air in the tower to create an air flow that introduces external air from an air supply port provided in the tower body and exhausts the air in the tower to the outside of the tower.

[0029] The main purpose of a cooling tower is not particularly limited as long as it is a device for cooling a liquid, and examples thereof include cooling cooling water for air conditioning, cooling lubricating oil for a production process, or cooling cooling water for a furnace.

[0030] (First Embodiment)

[0031] Below, reference Figure 1 , the connected cooling tower 10 according to the first embodiment will be described. Figure 1 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a connected cooling tower according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , a connected cooling tower having a structure in which two cooling towers are connected is shown. The description of the connected cooling tower having a structure in which three or more cooling towers are connected can be applied to the description of the connected cooling tower having a structure in which two cooling towers are connected.

[0032] The cooling tower is a device for bringing treated water into contact with air so that a part of the treated water evaporates and the treated water itself is cooled by utilizing its heat of vaporization. In the connected cooling tower 10 of the first embodiment, the treated water flows down toward the filling material 21 and reaches the water tank 14. The external air flowing in from the air supply ports 16a and 16b provided on the side of the connected cooling tower is sucked into the tower and guided to the space below the filling material 21. After that, the external air changes its flow direction and flows toward the exhaust fan 15 and is discharged from the exhaust port 12 after passing through the filling material 21.

[0033] like Figure 1 As shown, the connected cooling tower 10 is composed of a cooling tower 10a and another cooling tower 10b adjacent to each other. The cooling tower 10a has a tower body 11a and an exhaust port 12a. An exhaust fan 15a and a filling material 21a are provided inside the tower body 11a. An air supply port 16a for introducing external air is provided on the side of the tower body 11a.

[0034] The cooling tower 10b includes a tower body 11b and an exhaust port 12b. An exhaust fan 15b and a filler 21b are provided inside the tower body 11b. An air supply port 16b for introducing external air is provided on the side surface of the tower body 11b.

[0035] The cooling towers 10a and 10b include a water tank 14 and a water supply pipe 31 which are used in common.

[0036] Shutters 17a and 17b are provided on the air supply ports 16a and 16b on the sides of the tower bodies 11a and 11b. The shutters 17a and 17b can adjust the flow direction of the introduced external air so that the external air can pass through the sides of the filling materials 21a and 21b evenly. In addition, the shutters 17a and 17b can prevent foreign objects larger than a specified size from entering from the outside.

[0037] The water supply pipe 31 is a pipe for introducing the treated water supplied from the outside into the cooling tower. A plurality of spray devices 13 are provided at predetermined intervals in the tower portion of the water supply pipe 31. The treated water introduced from the water supply pipe 31 falls from the spray devices 13 into the tower.

[0038] The tower bodies 11a and 11b are shells for connecting cooling towers. The shells are rectangular in shape. The connected cooling tower 10 is formed by connecting cooling towers 10a and 10b. The cooling tower 10a is provided with a supporting structure 18a for supporting an exhaust fan 15a, a water supply pipe 31, and a filling material 21a. Similarly, the cooling tower 10b is provided with a supporting structure 18b for supporting an exhaust fan 15b, a water supply pipe 31, and a filling material 21b.

[0039] On the sides of the cooling towers 10a, 10b adjacent to each other, the supporting structures 18a, 18b of the cooling towers 10a, 10b are arranged adjacent to each other.

[0040] The supporting structures 18a and 18b are composed of beam members and column members that structurally support the exhaust fans 15a and 15b, the water supply pipe 31, and the filling materials 21a and 21b. No wall or partition member is installed on the supporting structures 18a and 18b. Therefore, it is easy to access from the cooling tower 10a to the cooling tower 10b, and also to access the opposite direction, that is, it is possible to ensure the space required for maintenance.

[0041] Exhaust ports 12a and 12b are formed at the central upper portions of the cooling towers 10a and 10b. Exhaust fans 15a and 15b are provided at the exhaust ports 12a and 12b.

[0042] The exhaust ports 12a and 12b are outlets for discharging the external air entering the connected cooling tower 10 to the outside of the cooling tower by the guidance of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b. A water supply pipe 31 for supplying treated water to the cooling towers 10a and 10b is arranged below the exhaust fans 15a and 15b. Filling materials 21a and 21b are arranged below the water supply pipe 31. A water tank 14 for receiving treated water is arranged below the filling materials 21a and 21b.

[0043] Furthermore, a separator capable of removing water droplets contained in the air may be provided between the packing materials 21a, 21b and the exhaust ports 12a, 12b. By providing the separator, the treated water contained in the air passing through the packing materials 21a, 21b can be recovered, thereby preventing the treated water from flowing out of the exhaust ports 12a, 12b along with the exhaust flow.

[0044] In the connected cooling tower 10, the cooling towers 10a and 10b are managed in a unified manner. For example, even if scale accumulates on the filling material 21a of the cooling tower 10a and the pressure loss increases, the load caused by the pressure loss is borne by the exhaust fans 15a and 15b together, rather than just by the exhaust fan 15a. Therefore, if the cooling capacity of the connected cooling tower 10 is above a certain level, the maintenance period of the cooling towers 10a and 10b can be considered in a unified manner. As a result, since there is no partition between the cooling towers 10a and 10b, it is easy to repair and replace the filling material, thereby improving the maintainability. In addition, for the maintenance schedule, the cooling towers 10a and 10b can also be considered as a whole, thereby rationalizing the maintenance plan.

[0045] (Filling material)

[0046] The filling materials 21a and 21b are composed of a plurality of sheet-like components not shown in the figure. The sheet-like components have a structure with concave and convex surfaces, such as honeycomb panels or corrugated plastics, so that the ratio of the surface area of ​​the sheet-like components to the volume of the filling materials (i.e., the specific surface area) is increased. By making the surface of the sheet-like components have such concave and convex surfaces, the contact area between the treated water and the air can be increased to improve the cooling efficiency, so the value of the specific surface area also becomes an indicator of the cooling capacity of the cooling tower.

[0047] From the viewpoint of improving the contact efficiency between the treated water and the outside air, the filling materials 21a and 21b are usually in the form of sheets, but may also be in the form of prisms, etc. The filling materials 21a and 21b are usually made of synthetic resins represented by hard polyvinyl chloride or metals, and are molded into various shapes.

[0048] The filling materials 21a and 21b may be formed integrally as a whole, or may be formed by arranging a plurality of unit filling materials in the horizontal direction or in the vertical direction.

[0049] (Exhaust fan)

[0050] The exhaust fans 15a and 15b are structures for forming air flow inside the cooling tower 10. Figure 1 As shown by the black arrows, when the exhaust fans 15a and 15b are driven, the air inside the cooling towers 10a and 10b is exhausted from the exhaust ports 12a and 12b, thereby allowing external air to flow in from the air supply ports 16a and 16b. The inflowing external air flows to the exhaust ports 12a and 12b after passing through the filling materials 21a and 21b.

[0051] The driving unit for driving the exhaust fans 15a and 15b may be, for example, a motor. The driving unit is not particularly limited as long as it can drive the exhaust fans 15a and 15b, and may be, for example, a driving unit that variably manages the rotation speed of the fan by an inverter or the like. Since the cooling capacity can be adjusted according to the outside air wet bulb temperature and the treated water temperature, it has the effect of reducing power consumption.

[0052] (Second Embodiment)

[0053] The structure of the connected cooling tower 10 according to the second embodiment is Figure 1 The structure of the connected cooling tower of the first embodiment shown is the same. The filling materials 21a and 21b are configured to be divisible. By setting the size of the filling material of the divided unit of the filling materials 21a and 21b to a size that does not interfere with the beam components and column components of the supporting structure 18a and 18b and can be freely moved between the cooling towers 10a and 10b, it is expected that the maintainability can be improved.

[0054] Figure 2 1 is a schematic diagram of the abnormality determination unit of the connected cooling tower of the present invention. The current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b are sent to the abnormality determination unit 41. In addition, the pressure value is sent to the abnormality determination unit 41 from the pressure gauge provided in the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31. After receiving the current value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31, the abnormality determination unit 41 performs data processing for managing the connected cooling tower.

[0055] The load state of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b can be understood from the current value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b.

[0056] Generally, during constant speed operation, if the load applied to the exhaust fans 15a and 15b increases, the speed of the drive unit decreases and the current increases. If the load decreases, the speed of the drive unit increases to a speed close to the synchronous speed and the current decreases.

[0057] If the current flowing through the drive unit increases and becomes too large, the drive unit will generate heat and the temperature will rise, eventually causing damage to the drive unit.

[0058] Here, regarding the exhaust fans 15a and 15b of the cooling towers 10a and 10b being in a stable operating state, specifically, it refers to the following state: there is no scale accumulation on the filling materials 21a and 21b and they are in a healthy state, so the pressure loss of the air passing through the filling materials 21a and 21b is close to the value based on the design data of the filling materials 21a and 21b.

[0059] If scale gradually accumulates on the filling materials 21a and 21b, the pressure loss of the air passing through the filling materials 21a and 21b will increase, and the load applied to the exhaust fans 15a and 15b will increase. If the load applied to the exhaust fans 15a and 15b increases, the current value of the drive unit will tend to increase.

[0060] The pressure difference between the space and the outside air is measured using a pressure gauge provided at the space between the exhaust fans 15 a , 15 b and the water supply pipe 31 .

[0061] That is, it indicates the degree of pressure loss of air passing through the fillers 21a and 21b. Therefore, the degree of scale accumulation on the fillers 21a and 21b can be monitored by the increase in the value of the pressure gauge installed in the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31.

[0062] If the load applied to the exhaust fans 15a, 15b increases and the current value of the driving unit shows an upward trend, and the value of the pressure gauge installed in the space between the exhaust fans 15a, 15b and the water supply pipe 31 tends to increase, it is estimated that the pressure loss of the air passing through the filling materials 21a, 21b increases.

[0063] If scale gradually accumulates on the filling materials 21a and 21b, the timing of maintenance of the filling materials 21a and 21b and the driving parts of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b can be grasped by monitoring the current value of the driving parts of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the value of the pressure gauge installed in the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31.

[0064] The driving parts of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b are respectively provided with detection parts of the current value and the voltage value. As for the pressure gauge provided in the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31, it is sufficient to provide one pressure gauge in the connected cooling tower 10 composed of the cooling towers 10a and 10b. This is because: there is no partition in the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 in the connected cooling tower 10, so in addition to the instantaneous change of the local fluid around the pressure gauge, the value shown on the pressure gauge represents the pressure difference between the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 and the external air.

[0065] The operating status of each of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b can also be monitored based on the current value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b. For example, if an abnormal current value is detected in the exhaust fan 15a, it can be considered that a problem such as clogging has occurred in the filler 21a provided in the cooling tower 10a.

[0066] Furthermore, when an abnormal current value is detected only in the exhaust fan 15a, if there is no particular change in the value indicated by the pressure gauge, it can be considered that a malfunction has occurred in the exhaust fan 15a itself.

[0067] (Abnormality Judgment Unit)

[0068] Figure 3 1 is a diagram showing the functions of the abnormality determination unit of the connected cooling tower according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The abnormality determination unit 41 includes a data receiving unit 411, a storage unit 412, a calculation unit 413, and a display unit 414. The data receiving unit 411 receives the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31. The data receiving unit 411 can send and receive the data of the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31, either by wire or by wireless.

[0069] The data receiving unit 411 sends the received data on the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 to the storage unit 412. The data on the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 are stored in the storage unit 412. In addition, the data on the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 in a normal operating state are stored in the storage unit 412 as reference values ​​for monitoring.

[0070] The reference values ​​of the current value and voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value data of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 indicating the operating status may be set to have a width of the boundary value of the range of normal values.

[0071] For example, if scale or the like is accumulated on the filling materials 21a and 21b and the pressure loss of the air passing through the filling materials 21a and 21b increases, the current value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b increases, but the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31 shows an upward trend. Therefore, the clogging of the filling materials 21a and 21b can be detected or predicted based on the current value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the pressure value data of the space between the exhaust fans 15a and 15b and the water supply pipe 31.

[0072] In the calculation unit 413, the current value, voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a, 15b and the pressure value data of the space between the exhaust fans 15a, 15b and the water supply pipe 31 received by the storage unit 412 are compared with the monitoring reference values ​​of the current value, voltage value of the driving unit of the exhaust fans 15a, 15b and the pressure value of the space between the exhaust fans 15a, 15b and the water supply pipe 31 in the normal operation state stored in the storage unit 412. If the comparison result is within the range of the reference value, the information indicating that the normal operation state is in progress is transmitted to the display unit 414. If the comparison result deviates from the reference value, the alarm indicating abnormal operation is transmitted to the display unit 414.

Claims

1. A connected cooling tower, wherein the cooling liquid is A cooling tower that is a unit that is the smallest unit in which a cooling tower can operate. No partition plate is provided at a boundary between one cooling tower and another adjacent cooling tower among the two or more connected cooling towers.

2. The linked cooling tower according to claim 1, characterized in that: The filling material included in the cooling tower is divisible.

3. The linked cooling tower according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: An abnormality determination unit is provided for determining abnormality of the exhaust fan of the cooling tower.

4. A maintenance method for a connected cooling tower, wherein the connected cooling tower comprises a cooling tower and another adjacent cooling tower, characterized in that: The method further comprises the step of performing maintenance on the other cooling tower through a manhole of the one cooling tower.

Images