Performance Improvement of a Forced Draught Cooling Tower Using a Vortex Generator

Cooling systems using colling towers are often an important element in a production process and always involve water or energy consumption. Therefore, increasing the efficiency of the colling tower will reduce water and / or energy consumption. In order to increase the efficiency of colling tower energy consumption, the most studied part is the fills, where heat transfer occurs. However, there are no studies on the use of vortex generators in colling tower fills. Hence the aim of this study was to evaluate the performance improvement in a forced draught cooling tower using a vortex generator. It was conducted on a laboratory scale using single fill as a trial medium. The fill was made of 3-mm acrylic with dimensions of 30 × 30 × 1950 mm. A three-unit vortex generator was placed inside the fill. The rectangular vortex generator was made of 0.5-mm thick aluminium and had a size of 50 × 10 mm. Data were retrieved for the fills with and without a vortex generator. Water and air discharge of 1 L/minute and an inlet water temperature of 60°C were maintained. The results indicated that the effectiveness of the fill with a vortex generator was increased by 90.72% compared to the fill without a vortex generator.