| Cooling towers are devices that cool water to extract | | | | hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every |
| heat and reject it into the atmosphere. The rejection of | | | | minute. Such types are utilized in large industrial |
| heat is obtained through a natural process called | | | | concerns such as power plants. |
| evaporation. This occurs when the water is brought | | | | Crossflow cooling towers are in contrast to |
| into direct contact with air within the tower. Efficiency | | | | counter-flow towers where the air travels upwards |
| of cooling is an important factor, and the maximum | | | | through the tubes or the fills, which is opposite to the |
| efficiency is brought about by exposing the maximum | | | | downward movement of the water. The rule of the |
| water surface to the maximum flow of air for the | | | | thumb is to not replace a crossflow cooling tower with |
| longest possible time. | | | | a counter-flow tower or do the reverse. The chief |
| Cooling towers that work with water are designed in | | | | requisite for such a change is a thorough engineering |
| two different configurations. The first configuration is | | | | evaluation of the entire cooling system along with its |
| called counterflow cooling tower while the second | | | | pump systems. |
| configuration is the crossflow cooling tower. These are | | | | Crossflow towers have certain benefits over other |
| just configurations, which indicate the direction of the | | | | types of cooling towers, which work towards the |
| airflow when related to the direction of the water flow. | | | | benefit of the company. To begin with, they have a |
| These two factors are equally important while | | | | lower pumping head, and thus have lower operational |
| calculating the efficiency of the tower and the heat | | | | costs. Additionally, they accept water flow variations |
| rejection. | | | | with ease without changing the distribution system. |
| In the crossflow type, the flow of air is perpendicular to | | | | They are also easy to maintain as it is easy to access |
| the flow of water as the water moves downward | | | | the vital parts. These are best for situations where the |
| through the fill. The airflow enters the vertical faces of | | | | requirement is more towards minimal pumping and |
| the tower and meets the fill material through which the | | | | piping costs. Crossflow towers also operate with |
| water flows downwards by gravity. The air flows past | | | | minimal noise and have minimal operational costs. |
| the fill and through the water thus cooling the water | | | | Thus, they are also best indicated in situations where |
| stream to a lower temperature and further providing | | | | easy maintenance is a concern. For these reasons, |
| the cooled water for purposes such as air conditioning | | | | they are a practical choice for many industries where |
| or electricity generation. | | | | cooling is of prime concern while concentrating on |
| Depending upon the purpose of cooling, these devices | | | | concerns like ease of use, operational costs, and |
| can be small, designed to cool only a few gallons of | | | | maintenance of the cooling device. |
| water per minute or can be very large, cooling | | | | |