Purpose:

Before the development of cooling rivers, towers, lakes, and cooling ponds were needed to supply cooling. By the development of the mechanical draft cooling tower, as little as one square foot of area is required for each 1000 square feet needed for a cooling pond or lake.

Cooling towers minimize the thermal pollution of the natural water heat sinks and permit the reuse of circulating water. An instance of the manner within that a cooling tower could fit within a system is displays in Figure.

Figure: Cooling System Containing Cooling Tower

A cooling of the water inside a cooling tower is completed through the direct contact of water and air. This cooling effect is given primarily through an exchange of latent heat of vaporization resulting from evaporation of a small amount of water and through a transfer of sensible heat that raises the temperature of the air. A heat shifted from the water to the air is dissipated for the atmosphere.