Abstract:
In this work, an experimental investigation is performed on a counter flow forced draft cooling tower with expanded wire meshed fill as packing material. The effect of controlling parameters such as the air and water flow rates on the performance parameters such as the range, water evaporation rate, heat rejection/gain rates, Merkel number, effectiveness and global heat and mass transfer coefficient has been analyzed. A correlation is then subsequently developed for the Merkel number as a function of water and air flow rates. Next, an optimization problem is solved to simultaneously estimate the controlling parameters in order to satisfy a given Merkel number using differential evolution. It is found from the present study that many feasible combinations of controlling parameters satisfy a given value of the Merkel number, which may be useful to the operator for regulating desired conditions.
