Performance Enhancement of Induced Draft Cooling Towers and Low ROI period with ENCON’s Energy Efficient FRP Fans
In today’s world
of sustainable development, energy saving is an essential criteria for any
power generating sector. Since the beginning of the century, every industrial
sectors are taking measures to adopt energy efficient technology in order to
meet the stringent standards of regulatory bodies.
The Induced
draft cooling tower heat transfer effectiveness is highly affected by the
overall CT fan efficiencies. The auxiliary power used by cooling tower fans
forms between 2.21 – 3.06% of total auxiliary power (0.23 – 0.38% of plant
load). Earlier Cooling tower fan blades are manufactured with different
materials like aluminium, wood and Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP). With the
advancement in composite material technology, the current generation cooling
tower fan blades are manufactured with Fibre Reinforced Plastic (FRP).
With continuous
Research and Development in material technology, ENCON has achieved to produce
highly energy efficient FRP Cooling Tower Fans. These fan blades are manufactured
with high quality Epoxy Resin to resist the corrosive and abrasive operating
conditions. Additional coating provide resistance to UV degradation. In addition
to this, aerofoil profile blades achieves acoustic benefit and better
performance.
ENCON’s R&D process
is dedicated towards Aerodynamic designing of customise Fan blades to achieve
the finest performance and suit the existing system. By careful selection of efficient
Airfoil for high lift to drag ratio and optimization of geometrical parameters
of fan blades improves the fan efficiency considerably. There are various
factors which affect the cooling tower effectiveness and thermal capability.
The main parameters are
inlet air wet bulb temperature, airflow through the cooling tower and energy
consumed by the fan motors. ENCON’s high energy efficient axial flow fan
improve the latter two parameters to enhance the overall Cooling tower
performance which also directs the low Return of Investment (ROI) period. The
Specific Energy Consumption with FRP fans decreases substantially because of
power reduction as well as increased airflow in the cooling tower system. The ROI
period can be estimated by improvement in two most important parameters. Firstly
the increased fan efficiency and reduced weight of fan blades, reduces the
electrical power input to the fan motor. Secondly, the improved airflow
increases the cooling tower effectiveness which enhances the overall process.
This results in improvement in condenser vacuum and reduction in Turbine back
pressure. All this reduction in losses associated with circulating water
temperature helps to generate additional power. Hence replacement of existing
cooling tower fan with ENCON’s FRP fan not only enhances the energy savings but
also reduces the anticipated payback period.