Dry cooling towers DC (drycoolers) by TM “Friterm”

The use of alternative energy sources in cooling processes:
Cooling is carried out with the help of refrigeration equipment and is widely used in various sectors of the national economy. The cooling process in vapor-compression refrigeration machines (the most common) is one of a number of thermodynamic processes that occur sequentially with the working fluid (freon) circulating inside the refrigeration equipment. Vapor-compression refrigeration equipment is fully powered by electricity. The main electricity consumption is accounted for by the process of compressing freon in the compressor (on average 20%), as well as by the operation of pumps, fans and automation.

Refrigeration machines (vapor compression) can provide a fairly wide range of low temperatures, usually from -40 to +20°C. It often happens that the temperature of the cooling process is comparable to or higher than the ambient air temperature. So, theoretically, we can do the cooling directly with ambient air, but we will need an additional element for this. This element is a dry cooling tow er (or dry surface heat exchanger drycooler). As soon as the air temperature is at least 1 degree below the required cooling temperature, we switch the cooled flow to dry cooling towers. With this scheme of operation, we “remove” part of the heat load in the dry cooler, and the other part is “finished cooling” in the refrigeration equipment. As the temperature difference increases, we remove more and more heat from the dryer to the environment, until the flow is completely cooled in the dryer and the operation of the refrigeration equipment is no longer required.

Drycoolers in industry

Industrial coolers included in the cooling scheme are a separate unit, which leads to an increase in capital expenditures for equipment. However, depending on the required temperature and the region where the equipment is used, we do not use refrigeration equipment for part of the year and, accordingly, do not spend electricity on its operation. In the case of a draycooler, electricity is needed only to run the draycooler fans, pumps and automation. Commercial drycoolers operate in a similar way.