AX Cooling and Condensing Sections can be arranged
in virtually any conceivable combination of parallel and series flow.
This provides optimum thermal design for the process duty within any
limitations involved. The largest cooling jobs and the smallest are
handled with equal facility, using AX Sections as "building blocks"
to produce a unit of any size. The water or combination of air and
water, used as the coolant, can be introduced to the exterior of the
Sections by any of several methods.
SPRAYED
A method most widely used for the majority of services is that of
spraying water over the Sections to provide a cascade type cooler
or condenser. Cast iron distributing pans or spray nozzles can be
sued for handling the water. On a once through basis, using river,
sea, well, or cooling tower water, the cooling load is handled by
the sensible heating of the water. The water-air interface produces
an additional advantage with an evaporative cooling effect between
the water and air.
EVAPORATIVE
A natural development of the above type of operation which has become
more widely used in water-scarce locations, is the fully evaporative
type of AX Section installation. In this type of cooler or condenser,
water is sprayed over the Sections in large quantities, but the entire
body of water in the system is recirculated, minus a very minor portion,
which provides for evaporation and blown down., Such an installation
combines the functions of heat exchanger and cooling tower with attendant
savings in first cost and operating expense. Evaporation of the coolant
is atmospheric, using the natural draft of the air, assisted by the
considerable added effect produced by the warm coils in the evaporating
zone. No fans are necessary although sometimes desirable, and the
water recirculation is a single pumping operation, since the cooling
of process fluid and the recirculated coolant are handled simultaneously.
SUBMERGED
Long a standby of the oil refining industry, completely submerged
AX Coolers and condensers, with their large potential emergency thermal
capacity and freedom from operational and maintenance difficulty,
are among the longest lived items of heat transfer apparatus in use
today. Service periods of twenty years without replacement have been
usual with this type of installation.
 |
Portion of a completed cooler assembly showing water
piping arrangement to distributing pans. Pans, mounted on top
of each stack of AX Sections, assure even distribution of water
over the stack, as shown here. |
| This photograph shows the installation of a sulfuric
acid cooling system in a mid-western metallurgical plant. Sheathing
in fore-ground is incomplete. |
 |
 |
Construction view of AX Sections for a sulfuric
acid cooler. Installation is for a large fertilizer complex in
Central Florida. Water distribution pans and top acid manifold
tees are not yet installed in this photograph. |
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