Dry and Wet-Peaking Tower Cooling Systems For Power Plant Application

Abstract

A new concept of power plant heat-sink system is presented which employs the combination of a conventional wet-tower and a conventional dry-tower. The purpose of this cooling system is to reduce wet cooling-tower makeup-water requirements in water-short areas. The dry tower operates all year around while the wet-peaking tower is used only above certain ambient dry-bulb temperatures. The two cooling circuits serve separate sections of a conventional, surface-type, steam condenser. Thermal performance analysis is presented for various combinations of cooling systems ranging from 100 percent wet to 100 percent dry. Annual makeup-water requirements are calculated for various sizes of towers located in 18 selected cities of the U.S.A. ranging from north to south and east to west.

Engineering and economic evaluation of wet/dry cooling towers for water conservation

“…A number of possible arrangements exists for combining separate wet and dry cewers into wet/dry towers which can conserve make-up water while rejecting the power plant waste heat. Many of these wet/dry towers have been lescribed iD the literature (15,16,17). Evaluation of all possible…”

“…The modes of operation considered are described below. This design has been advocated by tower manufacturers (15,17). A detailed evaluation of this concept was outside the scope of the contract.…”

“…15. This comparison is included to better portray the relative economic advantages of the three systems.…”

An estimation of the performance limits and improvement of dry cooling on trough solar thermal plants

“…In this combination, the dry tower operates all year around while the wet-peaking tower is used only above certain ambient dry bulb temperatures [8].…”