Numerical modeling of the thermal characteristics of a fan spray cooling tower

The work constructs a mathematical model of the heat and mass transfer process in a spray cooling tower. The mathematical model consists of the equations of motion and heat and mass transfer of water droplets and the equations of thermal and material balance of moist air, considers the polydispersity of the droplet flow and allows to calculate the cooling capacity of the cooling tower depending on the parameters of the droplet flow. The mathematical model is confirmed by the results of industrial tests of irrigation-free cooling towers. The simulation results show that the cooling capacity of a spray fan cooling tower significantly depends on the atomization dispersion and the height of the water cutting nozzles. Reducing the average diameter of the droplet flow to less than 2 mm and increasing the height of the nozzles H > 4…5 m make it possible to achieve the cooling performance of known cooling towers with nozzle. The mathematical model allows to calculate the cooling capacity of the cooling tower and determine the necessary individual parameters of the droplet flow for each type of equipment and consumers for which the specific energy costs for cooling is minimal.