A cooling tower's job is to reduce the temperature of water through refrigeration. It is used in manufacturing, electrical-power generation and air-conditioning systems. A cooling tower looks like a large, wide chimney with curved sides. When it is working, steam can be seen flowing from the top. A 1-ton chiller is equal to 12,000 BTU (British thermal units). This amount of heat could theoretically melt 1 ton of ice in 24 hours. Calculating the tons for a cooling tower requires you to understand some basic information about the device.
Instructions
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1
Determine the water flow rate though the cooling tower. This number should be expressed as gallons per minute and is shown as "q" in the formula.
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2
Determine the temperature difference between the water entering the cooling tower and the water exiting the cooling tower. This should be expressed in Fahrenheit and is denoted as "dt" in the formula.
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3
Multiply 500 times the water flow rate, times the temperature difference, divided by 12,000 (or (500 x q x dt)/12,000). The result is the tons of capacity of the cooling tower.