ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING HDPE cooling towers
Laser 3D printers are used for components that require complex geometries or exceptional precision
a good fi t for this facility, and with the 20-year warranty they are covered for the next two decades,” says Coppock. Delta Cooling Towers pioneered
the engineered plastic cooling tower design in the 1970s. The seamless one-piece shell has no joints, seams, panels, gaskets, bolts, fasteners or caulking like conventional towers. The models selected were the Paragon series which each have a cooling capacity of 250 tonnes. “They really appreciate that that
towers are environmentally friendly as well,” adds Coppock. “They don’t require
The Delta Cooling Tower
as much water treatment chemical, you lose less water from drift, and your energy savings can be signifi cant.”
INCREASING ALTITUDE Another issue for any end user looking to add or replace a cooling tower system is the potential noise it generates. At the GE Aerospace plant, the towers are between two buildings which could have created signifi cant echo reverberating throughout the industrial park. To combat the issue of noise, the engineering fi rm decided it would be best to elevate the towers so that they sit closer to the roofl ine of the buildings. “The towers look great sitting up on
those platforms, but in hindsight, we may not have even needed to raise them up above ground level because they run whisper quiet,” Coppock explains. “When you’re standing there, literally, the only thing you hear is the water running through.” The towers also came with variable
frequency drives (VFDs) which allow the fan speed to vary so that the units do not run at max RPM except when necessary. Depending on the application, this alone can result in signifi cant energy savings. In fact, an independent report by the New
York Power Authority estimated almost a 40% decrease in electrical consumption when using the VFDs on Delta’s cooling towers.
HYPERSONIC SPEED INSTALLATION HDPE cooling towers can deliver additional cost-saving benefi ts with a quicker, simplifi ed installation. While getting a typical cooling tower up and running can take several weeks or more, the engineered plastic designs are factory assembled, enabling an installation process that can often be completed in as little as a single day with a smaller crew. “That installation was basically
plug-and-play,” says Coppock. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s some wiring and piping to do, but nowhere near the scale that it takes to put in a stainless steel, galvanised, or even a fi breglass tower for that matter.” The savings did not end there for
GE Aerospace. Coppock estimates that the two new cooling towers have greatly reduced the company’s expenses on costly water treatment chemicals and because they are being well maintained, they have essentially eliminated downtime related to processing temperatures.
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