What is cooling tower?

The generic term "cooling tower" is used to describe both direct (open circuit) and indirect (closed circuit) heat rejection equipment. While most think of a "cooling tower" as an open direct contact heat rejection device, the indirect cooling tower, sometimes referred to as a "closed circuit cooling tower" is nonetheless also a cooling tower.

A direct, or open circuit cooling tower is an enclosed structure with internal means to distribute the warm water fed to it over a labyrinth-like packing or "fill." The fill provides a vastly expanded air-water interface for heating of the air and evaporation to take place. The water is cooled as it descends through the fill by gravity while in direct contact with air that passes over it. The cooled water is then collected in a cold water basin below the fill from which it is pumped back through the process to absorb more heat. The heated and moisture laden air leaving the fill is discharged to the atmosphere at a point remote enough from the air inlets to prevent its being drawn back into the cooling tower.
The fill may consist of multiple, mainly vertical, wetted surfaces upon which a thin film of water spreads (film fill), or several levels of horizontal splash elements which create a cascade of many small droplets that have a large combined surface area (splash fill).

An indirect, or closed circuit cooling tower involves no direct contact of the air and the fluid, usually water or a glycol mixture, being cooled. Unlike the open cooling tower, the indirect cooling tower has two separate fluid circuits. One is an external circuit in which water is recirculated on the outside of the second circuit, which is tube bundles (closed coils) which are connected to the process for the hot fluid being cooled and returned in a closed circuit. Air is drawn through the recirculating water cascading over the outside of the hot tubes, providing evaporative cooling similar to an open cooling tower. In operation the heat flows from the internal fluid circuit, through the tube walls of the coils, to the external circuit and then by heating of the air and evaporation of some of the water, to the atmosphere. Operation of the indirect cooling towers is therefore very similar to the open cooling tower with one exception. The process fluid being cooled is contained in a "closed" circuit and is not directly exposed to the atmosphere or the recirculated external water.

In a counter-flow cooling tower air travels upward through the fill or tube bundles, opposite to the downward motion of the water. In a cross-flow cooling tower air moves horizontally through the fill as the water moves downward.

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