Testing of utility power plant cooling towers

Because poor cooling tower performance can lead to expensive plant inefficiency, the number and sophistication of thermal performance tests of utility and process cooling towers is on the rise. Utility cooling tower malperformance can lead to poor heat rejection, increased turbine back pressure, increased fuel consumption, and decreased plant output. Economics demand that the towers serving these plants perform near their design point. This paper reports that cooling tower thermal performance tests can isolate one source of plant inefficiency. Benchmark tests are also performed immediately before tower rebuild or modification in order to evaluate the effectiveness of future tower alterations, or as part of a feasibility study when considering process expansion