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Although the primary role of a cooling tower’s gearbox is to reduce the speed of the driver (usually an electric motor) to an efficient fan speed, there are several other important requirements for proper cooling tower operation.
A gearbox must provide primary support for the fan’s weight and rotational forces, withstand the shock loads imposed at start-up and during subsequent speed changes, and also limit power usage and noise.
These functions make the gearbox the heart of the cooling tower; it must be a steadfast solution to ensure reliable performance. Many manufacturers of mechanical equipment provide acceptable “geared speed reducers,” designed for more forgiving commercial applications; however, these units are often unprepared for the work of cooling tower service. Add to this the corrosive effects of operation within an exceedingly humid environment, and the life expectancy of these commercial speed reducers often suffer.
So how do you know which gearbox is right for your service conditions, maintenance plan and project timeline? And what should you consider when you’re deciding on a gearbox manufacturer? Here are five factors to guide your decision-making process.
1. Oil change intervals
Although oil changes are routine maintenance, your gearbox’s oil change can end up costing a surprising amount of time and money. This is why you should consider the frequency of necessary oil changes when choosing the best gearbox for your cooling tower(s).
For many double reduction gearboxes, the original oil should be replaced after just 500 hours or 4 weeks of operation. After the first change, intervals of 2 or 3 months may be required for a very moist atmosphere. On the other hand, Marley® Geareducer® double reduction gearboxes only require operators to change the oil every 3,000 hours, which can save up to $1,419 in annual oil change costs.
Other key gearbox design considerations when looking at oil change requirements include:
- Larger oil pathways,
- Quality oil seals or oil seal upgrades, and
- Value add-ons, such as low-level oil indicator switches and anti-reversing devices.
2. Vibration and noise
In some cases, vibration can cause considerable damage to gearboxes and surrounding components in just a few years. For example, after only a few years of operation, a plant in North Carolina noticed considerable vibration effects and gear damage to their gearboxes.
The facility tried upgrading all 10 cells to the larger version of gearboxes from the same manufacturer – and started using a special lubricant with auxiliary oil coolers and air purge lines – but the issues persisted, while lifecycle costs began to stack up. After that, the plant decided to install Marley M Series Geareducers, which were an easy drop-in replacement for the other gearboxes. The Marley M Series Geareducer solution reduced vibration and provided the facility with a longer warranty on the equipment. Furthermore, severe vibration often results in excessive noise in a gearbox, so gearboxes should be verified for gear sound by third party test results. Ask your OEM about their sound data before deciding on a gearbox solution for your cooling towers.
3. Bearing life expectancy
Bearings are a vital part of every gearbox, and the bearings used in each manufacturer’s gearbox model should be treated as such when integrated into the design. While many OEMs use single-row interstage shaft bearings, others use double-row bearings because of their clear performance advantages and longer life. For example, all Marley double-row interstage bearings have 100,000 hours minimum L10A service life, yielding as much as 3x the bearing life of single-row bearings in other gearboxes.[1]
4. Lifecycle and remanufacture/repair options
Guarantees on service life are difficult to provide when service conditions vary so greatly from facility to facility, let alone tower to tower, but operators can determine a predictable lifecycle when you consider available warranty and service history.
Design and engineering considerations – like housing durability, bearing rating, gear quality and additional features like cooling fins – along with real-world service data, are what lead manufacturers to offer warranties on their gearboxes. Operators should consider the equipment warranty as a sign of an OEM’s product experience and development techniques. When it comes to gearboxes, a new Marley Geareducer is delivered with a five-year warranty while other manufacturers offer 3 years or less.
And when the time comes for your gearbox to be taken out of service, it is advantageous for an operation to know their remanufacturing or repair options for their equipment. If you need major repairs or would prefer to purchase a new Geareducer, Marley has several options to get you up and running with new or good-as-new gearboxes, each of which comes with a best-in-class warranty to guarantee the highest Marley quality.
5. Single source provider
When buying equipment for your facility, it is always easier on the backend to limit vendors and suppliers as much as possible. Whether you need a new gearbox, cooling tower fill media or to expand heat rejection capacity and build completely new towers, manufacturers like SPX Cooling can assist you and your team with all your cooling tower needs.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Cooling Tower Solutions.
SPX Cooling Tech – the company that manufactures Marley Geareducer gearboxes – designs components uniquely for cooling tower service and, since SPX/Marley warrants both the cooling tower part and the thermal performance of the cooling towers on which they operate, the development, design, and manufacturing of every cooling tower part is taken very seriously. This has resulted in an unequalled history of reliable operation, providing cooling tower parts for over 100 years and gearboxes in more than 100,000 towers around the world.
What else should you consider?
When it comes to field-erected cooling towers and their components, the Marley team in Houston can help with everything from routine maintenance to emergency repairs, and can provide new, remanufactured or repaired gearboxes when you need one most. To get started, contact the Marley Parts & Service team today.
When you hear the term cooling tower, what comes to your mind is the tall cylindrical tower that’s found in nuclear power plants and is wide at the base. However, cooling towers are not only found in nuclear plants, but also in different industries as part of the cooling system. This specialized device ensures that the system functions properly by preventing possible overheating which could bring the whole system to a halt.
As the name suggests, the cooling tower is used to cool down the water circulating in the system. A series of fans pull large volumes of air into the cooling tower. The air is then brought into direct contact with the heated water from the condenser. A slight amount of the water evaporates when it comes into contact with the air and this creates a cooling action. The cooling tower then pumps the cooled water to the process equipment or condenser.
Natural Draft Cooling Towers
This type of cooling tower depends on natural convection to circulate air inside the tower and cool the water. The natural draft cooling towers are based on the ideology that warm, moist air rises above dry, cooler air, thus creating a constant air flow.
Mechanical Draft Cooling Cowers
Mechanical draft cooling towers, unlike natural draft cooling towers, employ mechanical methods to circulate air inside the tower. This is through the use of propeller fans or centrifugal fans. Compared to the natural draft cooling towers, mechanical draft cooling towers can be placed inside a building and is more advantageous since the flow of air can be regulated. However, they are more costly to run.
Common Applications of Cooling Towers
1. Water-cooled air-conditioning systems in hotels, hospitals, government premises, commercial complexes and residential areas.
2. Electrical power generation plants
3. Oxygen plants
4. Refrigeration plants
5. Milk and dairy plants
6. Induction heating steel furnace
7. Hydraulic oil coolers
8. Biogas plant and renewable power plants
9. Injection molding machines
Industries That Utilize Cooling Towers
1. Steel plants/ Metal casting plants
2. Oil refineries and manufacturing
3. Food and food processing industries
4. Car and vehicle manufacturing industries
5. Dairy product processing industries
6. Chemical and petrochemical industries
7. Solvent extraction plant
8. Solar power plant
The term cooling tower is used to refer to both open circuit (direct) and closed circuit (indirect) cooling equipment. These two systems operate to bring the same effect and therefore it is important for you to understand how they work and what makes them different.
Open Circuit Cooling Towers
This design involves the distribution of warm water into a fill. At this point, the fill provides an increased surface area for the air-water contact and thus allows for maximum evaporation to take place. After evaporation, the cold water is collected into a basin and returned to the condenser to repeat the process all over again. The heated air is then discharged to the atmosphere in a way that prevents it from getting back to the cooling tower.
Closed Circuit Cooling Towers
In this design, there is no direct contact between the air and the fluid being used, which can either be water or glycol mixture. The system has two fluid circuits whereby, one is used to bring in the warm water and the other one is a tube bundle. Water that passes through the tube bundle is cooled by a fan that blows air over the tubes and this facilitates heat exchange.
Cooling towers come in different sizes and are made of different types of materials such as stainless steel, wood, and plastic. It is no doubt that galvanized, stainless steel is all you need if you want a piece of equipment with long-term durability. If you want the best cooling tower that will suit your needs and improve your business, then the best place to get this is at Swanton Welding Company Inc.
Want more information on Open Type Cooling Tower? Feel free to contact us.