4.

0 Discussion

Experiment on cooling towers was conducted using bench top cooling towers (Model
HE 152) to study the effect of air velocity on wet bulb approach and pressure drop through
the packing. General start-up was performed before we started taking any readings. Valve V1
and V6 were closed while V7 was set to partially opened. Distilled water was poured into the
loaded tank until it is half full. Temperature was set to 50C and heater power at 1000 Watt.
The equipment was run for 15 minutes before any reading can be taken. To measure the
differential pressure across the orifice, valves V4 and V5 are opened while V3 and V6 are
closed. Then, to measure the differential pressure across the column, valves V3 and V6 are
opened while V4 and V5 are closed. The initial reading was taken at blower opening of 100
% and repeated three times for 75%, 50% and 25%.

Based on theory, water may be cooled by the air as long as its temperature is above
wet bulb temperature of entering the air[1]. Thus, when the nominal air velocity increase, the
temperature of wet bulb will decrease as more heat absorb by the saturated air. Our result
comply with the theory, as graph from figure 1 shows that as the nominal air increase, the
pressure drops increase. This is because, high pressure is created when the velocity of air
enters the column at high speed. Therefore, heat transfer between liquid and air occur
efficiently. A lot of heat is absorb by the air, reducing the wet bulb temperature. However,
when both nominal air velocity and pressure drops across packing decrease, the approach to
wet bulb temperature increase. This is because when the pressure drops across packing is low,
the nominal air velocity enters the column is decrease. Thus, heat transfer between warm
liquid and saturated air is low. Resulting the wet bulb temperature to increase. This is explain
why the wet bulb temperature keeps increasing from 100 % to 25% opening of the blower. As
the opening of the blowers is reducing at each set of test, the amount of air entering the
column is gradually decreasing from the previous test. Low velocity of air creates low
pressure. So, the approach wet bulb temperature increase as the pressure drop due to low air
velocity [2].

There were a few possible error that happen and may affect our result. Firstly, the
orifice pressure drop need to be calculated accurately. This is because, wrong calculation can
lead us to have inaccurate reading and affect our result as whole. Next, the level of water at
the load must be refill before repeating the experiment for different orifice pressure drop
value. This is to ensure that the equipment run smoothly. Lastly, wait at least 15 minutes
before taking any reading so that the reading is stable. Moreover, some safety precaution
must be taken to handle this experiment. Like, when shifting the opening of the blower, be
careful not to place your fingers closed to the blowers blade if failed to do so, you may
seriously injured [3]. Next, never touch the hot components pf the equipment with bare hand,
you might get a burn. Lastly, when pouring the distilled water into the load tank, make sure
no spilling occur on the electrical parts of the cooling towers.