Thermal Performance Evaluation of an Induced Draft Evaporative Cooling System through Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interference System (ANFIS) Model and Mathematical Model

The shift from fossil fuel to more renewable electricity generation will require the broader implementation of Demand Side Response (DSR) into the grid. Utility processes in industry are suited for this, having a large thermal time constant or buffer, and large electricity consumption. A widespread utility system in industry is an induced draft evaporative cooling tower. Considering the safety aspect, such a process needs to maintain cooling water temperature within predefined safe boundaries. Therefore, in this paper, two modelling methods for the prediction of the basin temperature of an induced draft evaporative cooling tower are proposed. Both a white box and a black box methodology are presented, based on the physical principles of fluid dynamics and adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system (ANFIS) modelling, respectively. By analysing the accuracy of both models with a focus to cooling tower fan state changes, i.e., DSR purposes, it is shown that the white box model performs best. Fostering the idea of using such a system for DSR purposes, the concept of design for flexibility is also touched upon, discussing the thermal mass. Pre-cooling, where the temperature of the cooling water basin is lowered before a fan switch off period, was simulated with the white box model. It was shown that beneficial pre-cooling (to lower the temperature peak) is limited in time.

The modelling of power plant’s evaporative cooling tower operation taking into account hydrometeorological conditions

The paper aims to perform numerical modelling of the operation of large-scale evaporative cooling towers of power plants considering dynamically changing hydrometeorological conditions. The proposed modelling was performed based on the developed mathematical algorithm for studying the influence of turbulent vortex motions on the processes of atmospheric cooling of circulating water in countercurrent cooling towers of power plants. According to the simulation results, the optimal heat exchange modes of cooling towers operation are determined and recommendations for the practical implementation of measures to improve their thermal efficiency in hot periods of the year are proposed.