At first assumption one would probably believe water to be the core of the cooling towers operations, however the real star of the show are the fills or wet decks. Fills provide the cooling tower operation with extra surface area for the water in the tower to be exposed to air and absolutely maximize the evaporation process. There are several types of fills out there and different types of cooling towers will utilize different fill types depending on their methodology when it comes to creating evaporation. We will outline a few different fill types in brief in order to set you on the path to furthering your understanding of how cooling towers actually work!
Splash Fills:
Splash fills work by breaking up the flow of water crating droplets by ‘splashing’ the water. The droplets evaporate quickly and increase the rate of evaporation in the right conditions and tower. As the water descends various splash fills increasingly break down the water into smaller and smaller droplets that have air flowing against the descending water.
Film Fills:
Film Fills operate by spreading water into a thin flowing layer over a large surface area exposed to air flowing across the water in order to extract heat and elevate it out of the tower. There are patterns on the fill called flutes to help control how the water flows and to keep it at the desirable level for the evaporation to happen at the rate the tower operator is looking for. The goal of the flutes is to have the water take the longest possible route across the fill so air has the most time possible to do it’s part of the evaporative process that the tower is designed to perform.
The fills listed above present different advantages and disadvantages and there really is no right choice. The main factor in deciding which one to choose is the process they will be deployed to be a part of. This is a very brief description and there is definitely plenty more to learn. All Kote Lining inc is happy to answer any questions you may have and to assist you with any of your cooling tower needs.