Analytical and field study of environmental parameters affecting on performance of Heller cooling towers from economical point of view

Ambient temperature variations and cross winds are the most important environmental parameters affecting the performance of cooling towers, which can result in considerable economical losses to a power plant. In this paper, field and analytical study of these parameters and their effects on the performance of Heller cooling towers from economical point of view have been presented for a typical 240 MW power plant. Results show that at constant ambient temperature, with the increase in wind speed up to 6 m/s, the performance of the steam section of the power plant decreases by an average of 2.52%. Similarly, under still-air condition (no-wind condition), a 10 °C increase in the ambient temperature results in about 3.4% decrease in the performance of the steam section. The percentages of decrease in the performance of the steam section of the power plant are equivalent to reduction in the produced power amounting to 16.8 MW and 24 MW, respectively.