Cooling Tower

A cooling tower is a specialized heat exchanger in which air and water are brought into direct contact with each other in order to reduce the water’s temperature. As this occurs, a small volume of water is evaporated, reducing the temperature of the water being circulated through the tower.

A water condenser chiller is a refrigeration device that transfers heat from one element into another. Most of the energy consumed by a chiller is used to move refrigerant vapor from the evaporator (low pressure) to the condenser (high pressure). Lowering condenser water temperature decreases the pressure differential, so the compressor does less work.

A typical water-cooled chiller uses recirculating condenser water from a cooling tower to condense the refrigerant. A water-cooled chiller contains a refrigerant dependent on the entering condenser water temperature (and flow rate), which functions in relation to the ambient wet-bulb temperature. Since the wet-bulb temperature is always lower than the dry-bulb temperature, the refrigerant condensing temperature (and pressure) in a water-cooled chiller can often operate significantly lower than an air-cooled chiller. Thus, water-cooled chillers can operate more efficiently.