While hyperboloid cooling towers of over 600 feet tall are the most recognizable of cooling towers, the most common are those smaller, rooftop models, typically used to discharge heat from air conditioners. There are many different types of cooling towers, but they all do accomplish generally the same thing.
Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. This can be accomplished with a few different methods. Some use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature. Closed-circuit dry cooling towers, however, use air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature.
The main types of cooling towers are natural draft and forced draft cooling towers. These different types operate either with natural wind power, or assisted blowing air power.
As previously mentioned, there are many different types of cooling towers. the common applications for these towers include circulation water used in oil refineries, petrochemical and other chemical plants, thermal power stations, and HVAC systems for cooling buildings.
The size of a cooling tower varies a great deal depending on its use. The enormous hyperboloid towers are usually associated with nuclear power plants. These large towers, as well as other middle-to-large sizes are used in other chemical or industrial plants. However, most cooling towers are on or adjacent to buildings, and used in conjunction with their air conditioning systems. Read more like this.
