Cooling tower -- hot and cold water tanks

AI Thread Summary
Hot and cold water tanks are utilized in open circuit cooling towers primarily for managing flow rates and pressure fluctuations. The cold water tank is essential for receiving water from the tower and maintaining system fill levels, while the warm water tank may serve to provide suction head for pumps or capture treated water for reuse during maintenance. Surge tanks help mitigate fluctuations in continuous flow processes, particularly on the downstream side of the cooling system. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding specific project requirements and configurations, such as the use of concrete tanks in an aluminum casting workshop. Overall, the integration of these tanks is crucial for efficient cooling tower operation and maintenance.
BenjaminSa
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Hi
In some projects, I saw that hot and cold water tanks have been used for open circuit cooling towers. What is the need to use these tanks?
 
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Can you give some links to the projects you saw? We need to understand the kind of project you're asking about.
 
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There has to be a cold water tank to receive what's coming out of the tower and regulate the fill level of the system. But I'm not sure why you would need a warm water tank.
 
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russ_watters said:
There has to be a cold water tank to receive what's coming out of the tower and regulate the fill level of the system. But I'm not sure why you would need a warm water tank.
maybe for surge purposes.
 
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anorlunda said:
Can you give some links to the projects you saw? We need to understand the kind of project you're asking about.
The cooling tower unit is used for the aluminum casting workshop
And the tanks were made of concrete
cold water tank: about 350 m3
warm water tank: about 350 m3
cooling water flow: 450 m3/hr
 
Chestermiller said:
maybe for surge purposes.
Can you explain more?
 
BenjaminSa said:
Can you explain more?
A surge tank is used to mitigate flow rate- and pressure fluctuations in a continuous flow process.
 
Chestermiller said:
maybe for surge purposes.
Sure, that's why it is done on the cool(downstream) side. When you turn on/off the tower, the tower fills/empties, so that water has to come from/go somewhere. But I can't envision a surge need on the upstream side. Can you think of something specific?
 
If the water includes chemical treatments, it may be that they want to capture and reuse the water if the tower has to be drained for maintenance purposes. Two tanks just to allow gravity drain?
 
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Is the hot water pumped into the tower? If so, maybe the hot tank is simply to provide suction head for the pump?

A sketch of the configuration would help.
 
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  • #11
Not the OP, but here's a typically cooling tower piping diagram with one surge tank (the tower basin):

Nd9GcRyrREENe2vprloja6vSR7aa01dToF1rVLgoA&usqp=CAU.png
 
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  • #12
Aha, that makes more sense, pump the cooler water using the tower basin for pump suction.
 
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