Evaporative Cooling Bleed Water Reuse for Scale Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Evaporative cooling systems face significant water waste and increased operational costs due to the need for water bleeding to control mineral buildup in recirculating systems, leading to substantial water consumption and potential scarcity issues, especially in areas with limited fresh water resources.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secondary cooling unit that utilizes bleed water from the primary cooling system to pre-cool air before it enters the primary cooling process, reducing the amount of water lost to drain and minimizing mineral concentration through evaporation on a sacrificial dewatering media, thereby reducing total water consumption and preventing scale buildup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If water is bled from the recirculating system to control mineral concentration, then mineral buildup is prevented, but water consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful waste bleed water into a beneficial resource by directing it to a secondary evaporative cooling unit. This sacrificial media absorbs minerals from the bleed water through evaporation, preventing scale buildup in the primary system while reusing the water for additional cooling, thus transforming a waste stream into a useful resource
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of discarding bleed water to the drain, the system recovers its cooling potential by routing it through a secondary evaporative cooling unit. The bleed water continues to provide cooling function until it becomes too concentrated, at which point it is discharged. This extends the useful life of the bleed water and reduces overall water consumption
2Quantity of substance
If make-up water is added to replace evaporated and bled water, then water volume is maintained, but operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the previously wasted bleed water into a beneficial cooling resource for a secondary unit. By extracting additional cooling capacity from the bleed water before discharge, the system reduces the volume of make-up water needed and improves overall operational efficiency without compromising cooling performance
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary cooling action by passing bleed water through a secondary evaporative cooling unit before discharge. This preliminary utilization of the bleed water's cooling potential reduces the total water consumption and operational costs associated with continuously adding make-up water to replace lost volume
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of evaporative cooling systems by reusing bleed water for pre-cooling, significantly reducing water waste and the need for make-up water, while maintaining system performance and extending the lifespan of cooling media by minimizing scale deposition.
Implementation Method 1
a secondary cooling unit that utilizes bleed water from the primary cooling system to pre-cool air before it enters the primary cooling process
Implementation Method 2
a change of a fluid from a liquid phase to a vapor phase can result in a reduction in temperature due to the heat of vaporization involved in the phase change
Implementation Method 3
raw water is supplied to or recirculated through a heat exchanger and is vaporized by extracting heat from supply air flowing through the heat exchanger
Data Source
AI summary
An evaporative cooling system includes a primary cooling unit that utilizes a cooling fluid flowing through a primary heat exchange medium to cool supply air flowing past the primary heat exchange medium, a bleed line and a secondary cooling unit disposed upstream of the primary cooling unit with respect to a flow direction of the supply air. The primary cooling unit includes a supply line for supplying the cooling fluid to the primary heat exchange medium, a reservoir for collecting the cooling fluid supplied to the primary heat exchange medium, and a pump for recirculating the cooling fluid collected in the reservoir back to the supply line. The bleed line bleeds a portion of the recirculating cooling fluid from the primary cooling unit. The secondary cooling unit includes a secondary heat exchange medium that receives the cooling fluid bled from the primary cooling unit through the bleed line.