Choosing the Appropriate Fill for Your Cooling Tower and Application

Do you have a cooling tower system in your home or you run a facility that has a cooling tower? If so, you need to have enhanced measures that will help you minimise the chemical, energy, and water consumption of the cooling tower system. For your cooling tower system to operate at optimal efficiency, you can reinforce effective operational practices and raise awareness of these practices so that every person whether at home or the facility knows their role in enhancing the system's efficiency. You should also have the right materials for your system, such as the fill. This is a packing designed to provide the required contact time and area between water and air in your cooling tower system. For this reason, here are 3 types of fills you may want to choose for your cooling tower applications.

Film Fills

Film fills are typically packaged bundles of PVC plastic sheets, which are often textured or corrugated. The close spacing of these sheets offers a wide irregular space for water to form a thin film as it flows down the fill. They are dense and provide a large surface area for heat transfer per volume of the fill. The larger area allows for the use of shorter or smaller towers, which reduces the pumping costs. However, film fill is susceptible to deposit build-up and fouling. The susceptibility to fouling differs among the films fills. For instance, cross-corrugated fills have the highest efficiency of heat transfer but have a tendency to clog more readily. Fills with offset-flute designs represent a compromise between low fouling and high efficiency.

Splash Fills

These fills consist of slats or bars. When warm water hits the surface of these slats or bars, it splashes and forms small droplets. Most of the modern splash fills are made of plastic. Since splash fills are installed a few metres apart (2 or so), your cooling tower has to be tall enough to enable it to accommodate adequate fill. This will, in turn, facilitate the obtaining of the required cool-water temperatures and sufficient evaporation.

Hybrid Fills

Hybrid fills were originally an integration of splash-fill rods or bars and film-fill sheets. Modern designs have however incorporated drip points for the improvement of the formation of small droplets of water. These fills provide larger surface areas of the film fills at a lower pressure drop. They are also less prone to fouling and can be cleaned more easily than film fills. However, they need higher pumping heads and taller towers.    

For further assistance, contact local professionals, such as those from Cooling Tower Sales & Service Pty Ltd.