The difference between cross flow cooling tower and counter flow cooling tower

There are many types of cooling towers. According to the different directions of air and water flow, cooling towers can be divided into two types of cross-flow cooling towers and counter-flow cooling towers.

A cross-flow cooling tower refers to a cooling tower where the water flow falls vertically from the top of the tower, the air flows horizontally through the drenching filler, and the air flow is orthogonal to the water flow.

    A counter-flow cooling tower refers to a cooling tower in which water flow falls vertically in the tower and the direction of air flow is opposite to the direction of water flow. The water exchanges heat and mass with the air passing through it, causing the water temperature to drop.

The advantages of the cross-flow cooling tower are:

1. The structure is simple, easy to load and unload

2. Low head pressure (energy saving)

3. Convenient maintenance, low failure rate, easy maintenance

4. The cooling fins are not easy to scale and grow algae, and the cooling fins are easy to clean.

5. When the outside air environment is higher than the design environment, other emergency cooling measures can be taken (for example, direct tap water can be sprayed to increase heat dissipation, etc.).

6. The cost is low, the dosing range is wide, the equipment is not easy to corrode, and the head pressure required by the motor can be reduced.

Compared with the counter-flow cooling tower, the cross-flow cooling tower has the following disadvantages:

1. The efficiency is relatively low compared to the counter-flow type, and the same cooling capacity requires a larger box and floor space.

Water consumption is slightly more.

The advantages of the counter-flow cooling tower are:

1. The area is small, and the same volume efficiency is slightly higher than the cross-flow type.

2. It can produce larger water temperature difference.

The disadvantages of the counter-flow cooling tower compared to the cross-flow cooling tower are:

1. The internal structure is complex, the internal rotating water distributor is prone to failure, and maintenance is not convenient after the failure.

2. It is easy to produce algae and sludge, and it is easy to cause blockage of water distributor, which has higher requirements for sterilization and algae removal.

3. The requirements for dosing are relatively high. In addition to the metal inside the pipeline, the rotating mechanism is also a metal part.

4. The head pressure is higher, and the pump configuration is higher.

5. The efficiency decay is fast, and the decay rate of the subsequent cooling capacity is faster.

The two cooling water towers do not matter in their merits, they can be considered according to the actual situation.