A method for determining the optimum state of recirculating cooling water system and experimental investigation based on heat dissipation efficiency

The variation of water and air flow are effective measures for reducing the energy consumption of recirculating cooling water systems. In this paper, a simplified heat dissipation model of a cooling tower was developed. Combining the heat dissipation model with the power models of the power devices, a determination method was proposed to judge the optimality of the current operation state according to the heat dissipation efficiency of the cooling tower. In order to prove the validity of the optimum determination method, an experimental setup of a recirculating cooling system was established, and tests were performed under different conditions. The experimental results show that the heat dissipation calculated by the simplified model is consistent with that obtained from the experimental data, and that the empirical flow rate of water at the optimal point is in accordance with the flow rate of water the optimal point obtained by the optimum determination method. It was revealed that even with a variation of operation parameters of as low as 5.56%, the determination method can effectively identify the state of optimization. The method was able to give an insight into the trend of regulation of the water flow in recirculating cooling water system.