Cooling towers break down heat in chemical plants, large offices, and power plants, buildings with large air conditioning and heating units, and even malls. These towers are broken into typically, four classifications, by build, by air draft, by airflow pattern, and heat transfer. Building a cooling tower has several steps, the identification of a need, which leads to the identification of a specific model, which then help create the necessary characteristics, and finally, the parts needed to function.

What are the key elements of design that must be considered?

What type of cooling tower is being designed? What purpose should it serve? Once a need for a cooling tower has been identified, engineers make decisions about the primary characteristics such as cooling range, bulb temperature, tower height, mass flow rate of water and air velocity are crucial in consideration of cooling tower design.

When considering designing a cooling tower, the type of tower needs to be the first consideration

There are Field Erected Type cooling towers which are very large towers, often used for things like steel processing, or petroleum. Packaged Petroleum towers are already assembled and transported easily. These cooling towers are most common as they are portable and used for infrastructures like malls and hotels. Typically these towers make the least noise as not to disrupt the communities they inhabit. A Wet cooling tower can turn warm water to a temperature even lower than dry-bulb temperatures. In contrast, a dry cooling tower is used for convective heat transfer. Finally, Fluid cooling pertains to the mechanism forcing water through a tube that protects it from the dangers of contamination. Each tower is used for specific purposes.

Each Tower, has necessary structural, mechanical and electrical components

No matter which type of cooling tower is being constructed, there are some fundamental structural components that must be used. Some of those components include a cold water basin, tower framework, fan deck, fill, louvers, casing, drift eliminators, fan cylinders, mechanical equipment supports, and a water distribution system. In a mechanical sense, it is very important to focus on the efficiency of the speed reducers, fans, drive shafts and valves. Electrically, the motors, motor controls, and wiring systems must be up to code and inspected regularly. With each tower, these components can vary and adjust for example; the length of the tower will dictate the necessary wires, the amount of cooling that needs to be done will dictate the type of fans and the voltage of the motor's horsepower.