Cooling Tower Thermal Performance and Heat Rejection Testing

CleanAir's Performance group provides consulting and independent, third-party testing services to determine the thermal performance of cooling towers and demonstrate compliance with contractual guarantees. CleanAir is licensed by the Cooling Technology Institute (CTI) to perform these thermal performance tests. CleanAir typically performs testing in accordance with either CTI or ASME standards.

Cooling tower thermal performance has a direct effect on the capacity and heat rate of a power plant.  For this reason, new or rebuilt cooling towers are tested to ensure that the tower will perform at the design point and will not be a limiting factor in the efficiency of the process cycle.  CleanAir conducts contractual acceptance tests on new or rebuilt cooling towers to evaluate whether thermal performance guarantees provided by the manufacturer are met.

Over time, cooling tower performance declines can reduce plant profitability, making regular cooling tower performance benchmarking an important plant optimization tool.  CleanAir conducts heat rejection cycle analyses on cooling towers, condensers, and pumps to identify the sources of turbine backpressure and lost capacity.

In addition to performing contractual acceptance tests for new or rebuilt towers, CleanAir can generate "as-found" performance curves for existing towers. These curves can be used to predict return cold water temperatures under different wet bulb conditions, water flow rates and heat loads. These curves are particularly useful for older towers where performance curves may be lost, or where modifications, degradation, or changing heat load may have made the original curves inapplicable. For specific diagnostic applications, air flow rates from selected cells may be measured to provide a means of evaluating fan performance. The heat rejection cycle analysis can be used to determine economic break even points for cooling tower modifications through an evaluation of the loss in plant capacity or heat rate.

    Please call CleanAir's Performance Group at 800-208-6162 for more information regarding cooling tower and heat rejection cycle testing.