Optimal Design of Forced Draft Cooling Tower under Variable Working Conditions

In this paper, the optimal design of forced draft cooling tower is carried out by establishing a nonlinear programming model. Firstly, the thermodynamic property and Kinetic characteristics of forced draft cooling tower are analyzed. Then a nonlinear optimization model is developed based on the above analysis results. The changes of working condition caused by meteorological conditions and water demand in the main production process is explored when the cooling tower is designed. Finally, one case is employed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method. The results show that the annual operating cost is reduced by 21.6% and the annual comprehensive cost is reduced by 15.9% compared with the results of conventional method. The developed method in this study can effectively reduce the comprehensive cost by considering the changes of working condition when a cooling tower is designed.