Temperatura de los fluidos de operación y su efecto en el performance de una torre de enfriamiento de laboratorio

Abstract

Objective. The present investigation determines the effect of operating fluid temperatures on the performance of a laboratory cooling tower. Materials and methods. The research is of the experimental type carried out in the thermoelectric generation laboratory, in which the performance behavior of the forced draft cooling tower is determined, such as thermal performance, approach and range. Results. The experimental flows were characterized to be able to evaluate the performance of the cooling tower, for which they worked with 4 hot water mass flows, each one at temperatures of 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 °C. The behavior curves of the fluids acting in the cooling tower were elaborated, evaluating the performance based on the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures of the air and the temperatures of the cooling water. Conclusion. For the case of a flow of 0.0047 m3 / s and a hot water inlet temperature of 30 °C, an efficiency of 91.67% was reached, with a mass flow of air of 0.00421 m3 / s of hot air at 30 ° C and a relative humidity of 58.6%, requiring hot air with relative humidity of 92.8% at the exit of the process, with a replacement water mass flow equal to 0.324 m³ / h. The performance indicators of the cooling towers are optimal for the case of the hot water mass flow equal to 0.00421 m³/s.