Study of Air Inlet Velocities in a Forced Mechanical Draft Tower Guilherme Ianusckiewicz Marques, Karina Tamião de Campos Roseno

Abstract

Cooling towers are equipment used in various thermal systems, with the most common applications being in the chemical and petrochemical industries. They seek to transfer the residual heat from industrial processes to the air, avoiding thermal pollution of watercourses, or they use water in a closed cycle, saving the liquid that can be treated at a lower cost. A tower takes into account the required water outlet and inlet temperatures and the climatic conditions of the installation site. The present study aimed to study the air inlet velocities in a forced mechanical draft cooling tower, used in the chlorine cooling process at the company Hidromar Indústria Química Ltda, located in the city of Cubatão-SP. The Alpina tower is a medium-sized INS series tower, with size 32, in which measurements were taken with a digital anemometer. From the analyzed experimental data, the results of the air inlet velocities (m/s) in the tower were obtained and it was concluded that this presented constant results, not interfering in the operation of the process.