How to Select the Best Fill Media and Drift Eliminators for Your Cooling Tower

The team at Cooling Towers, LLC are experts in fill media and drift eliminators for cooling towers of all sorts. However, each process and its goals are different. This can make it difficult to select the right items for your process. To help, we will show you how to select the best fill media and drift eliminators for your cooling tower.

How to Select the Best Fill Media for Your Cooling Tower

The medium called fill is used to increase the surface area as well as the time of contact between the air and water flows to achieve better performance and more cooling. Fill media is composed of thin sheets of material made of PVC. However, there are several basic types of fill media to choose from:

Cross Fluted Fill Media - These use a cross pattern to improve water distribution by splitting the water stream as it descends through the fill pack. They can “split” the water a number of times, usually from five to ten times. They offer high thermal performance with low pressure drops suitable for many applications, such as single flow crossflow towers with fans mounted in a vertical plane.

Offset Vertical Fill Media - This fill media combines the enhanced water distribution of cross-fluted designs with the low-fouling characteristics of vertical flow. It is advantageous for various applications like power, steel, chemical, food processing, or in which water quality is average.

Vertical Flow Fill Media - The media uses large openings to produce an anti-fouling environment that are better for creating higher water velocities. There are also herringbone designs that are engineered to distribute water evenly over the entire fill area. These are ideal for applications that need high thermal performance.

Splash Fill Media - The purpose of this type of fill is to interrupt any water flow that may cause splashing and diminished performance in the tower. They can have either parallel or perpendicular orientation to airflow and in any standard arrangement that are dependent on your thermal requirements.

There are also many accessories and high-performance arrangements that you may choose from to maximize your tower’s performance. Please contact us today so we can diagnose your cooling tower and develop a plan to outfit you with the best fill for your tower.

How to Select the Best Drift Eliminators for Your Cooling Tower

In short, drift is waste and can cost you in reduced performance and cause critical damage to other components of your cooling tower. . Drift eliminators are designed to entirely remove drift or to set design flow rates so low they are barely perceptible. They can reduce drift by anywhere from 0.001% to 0.005% of the circulating flow rate. They work by providing multiple directional changes in airflow to keep water droplets from escaping. Drift eliminators are separated into two categories:

Cellular Drift Eliminators - Cellular use an alternating series of corrugated and wave sheets to form closed cells. These cellular panels correspond to a high surface area of droplet capturing. They are useful for low drift level applications.

Blade Drift Eliminators - They are designed for effective droplet capture while providing a cost-effective solution. They can achieve maximum droplet removal with decreasing fan energy.

The Bottom Line on the Best Fill Media and Drift Eliminators for Your Cooling Tower

While this is a general guide, Cooling Towers LLC. recommends contacting a trusted professional to discuss your needs in order to select the correct cooling tower fill for your tower. The Cooling Towers, LLC team utilizes the highest quality and most proven materials for use in new cooling tower construction or cooling tower repairs and/or upgrades. We offer a broad line of counterflow fills, from high-efficiency, cross-fluted fills to fouling-resistant, vertical fluted fills. We also provide drift eliminators, louvers, nozzles, and a wide range of other ancillary components, all designed to improve the efficiency of your cooling towers. Contact us today to schedule a site visit by one of our representatives to discuss the issues you may be having or chances to improve the thermal capacity of your cooling tower.to learn more.