Design and optimization of cooling towers

冷却塔广泛用于热电厂、化工、石化过程工业、制冷空调装置的低品位热量的散热。在美国，湿式冷却塔的需求量大约是所有家庭用水量的3倍。在寒冷的冬季，潮湿的冷却塔还会在塔上方产生可见的冷凝蒸汽羽状物，由于能见度降低，甚至在邻近的道路上结冰，这可能对农业和交通运输业（空中和地面）构成威胁。对水的消耗和羽流可见度的规定越来越多，再加上在更干旱的条件下开发发电厂，因为在这些条件下，可靠的补给水源是不可用的，就像太阳能热能和地热能应用的典型情况一样，这就要求工程师开发工具来设计改进的冷却塔技术。湿式冷却塔，特别是混合式冷却塔的数值模拟和优化一直不是研究的热点。混合塔结合了干冷却，不利用蒸发冷却，湿冷却，以减少水的需求和可见的羽流。在本提案中，将开发用于研究湿式和混合式冷却塔的分析和数值模拟工具。研究将集中在对湿塔和混合塔至关重要的填充物和羽流区的分析工具，以及对填充物和整个塔的数值工具。数值工具是研究入口几何形状、横流下的填充操作和环境条件所必需的。数值工具将与优化算法相结合，从而能够设计出最优的冷却塔，从而限制功耗和水补给要求。最佳设计将在阿尔伯塔大学开发的设备上进行实验测试。该项目的目的是为加拿大的冷却塔行业，特别是国际冷却塔公司，提供继续发展和为加拿大经济做出贡献所需的数字工具和高素质人才。

Cooling towers are widely used to dissipate the low-grade heat of thermo-electric power plants, chemical and petrochemical process industries, and refrigeration and air conditioning plants. Wet cooling tower requirements in the U.S. are about 3 times larger than all domestic water consumption. During cold winter months, wet cooling tower also produce visible plumes of condensed steam above the tower which can pose threats to agriculture and the transportation industries (air and ground) due to reduced visibility and even ice formation on neighbouring roads. Increased regulations on water consumption and plume visibility, combined with the requirement to develop power plants in more arid conditions where a dependable source of make-up water is unavailable, as it is typically the case for solar thermal and geothermal energy applications, requires engineers to develop tools to design improved cooling tower technologies. Numerical modeling and optimization of wet, and especially hybrid cooling towers, has not been the topic of intense research. Hybrid towers combine dry cooling, which do not exploit evaporative cooling, with wet cooling in order to reduce water requirements and visible plumes. In this proposal, analytical and numerical simulation tools to study wet and hybrid cooling towers will be developed. Research will focus on analytical tools for the fill and plume zone, which are critical to both wet and hybrid towers, and numerical tools for the fill and the entire tower. Numerical tools are necessary to study inlet geometries, fill operation under cross-flow, and environmental conditions. The numerical tools will be integrated with optimization algorithms to be able to design optimal cooling towers that limit power consumption and water make-up requirements. Optimal design will be tested experimentally at facilities that will be developed at the University of Alberta. The aim of the project is to provide the cooling tower industry in Canada, and in particular International Cooling Towers Inc., with the numerical tools and highly qualified personnel required to continue to grow and contribute to the Canadian economy.