Cooling tower
Overview
Atmosphere
An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature
Wet-bulb temperature
The wet-bulb temperature is a type of temperature measurement that reflects the physical properties of a system with a mixture of a gas and a vapor, usually air and water vapor. Wet bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that can be reached by the evaporation of water only. It is the...
or in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature
Dry-bulb temperature
The dry-bulb temperature is the temperature of air measured by a thermometer freely exposed to the air but shielded from radiation and moisture. Dry bulb temperature is the temperature that is usually thought of as air temperature, and it is the true thermodynamic temperature. It is the...
. Common applications include cooling the circulating water used in oil refineries, chemical plant
Chemical plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use special equipment,...
s, power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
s and building cooling.
Unanswered Questions
