A Thermodynamic Model of an Industrial Cooling Tower Using Semi Physical Models

Abstract

Mathematical algorithms are powerful tools frequently applied in the solution of energy transfer systems studied in science and engineering in order to improve the energy production systems, purpose responsible alternatives for non-conventional energy generation, and minimize the production costs influenced by the system functionality thermodynamically designed. This numerical approach allows modelling and predicting the thermodynamic states and the system instabilities by means of the application of computational tools. Compared with experimental assessments, numerical methods may be used to solve the mass and energy balances that describe the performance of the mechanical components under different working conditions with inexpensive resources. However, the predictability reached in the data approximation depends on the quality of the numerical data acquired with experimental measurements. In this sense, a novel implementation of thermodynamic principles has been described in order to solve the mass and energy balances for different mechanical components coupled to the industrial cooling tower system considering different non-stationary conditions. A set of physical data has been computed for each particular thermodynamic state by means of a Phenomenological – Based Semiphysical Model maintaining the real operating behavior in a virtual environment. Each thermodynamic state has been estimated with the density and viscosity values of the working flow, which have been influenced by the drop pressure and mass flow rate. A good agreement has been reached in the thermodynamic process representation comparing numerical data with the thermodynamic behavior of the cooling tower. On the other hand, the numerical simulation results with the Simulink application have shown a linear system behavior equal to the non-linear system close to the operating point for different working conditions.