Wet dry integrated circulation cooling system
AssigneeGE Infrastructure Technology LLC
InventorsRajan Prakash, Sudhakar Todeti
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An integrated circulating water cooling system includes at least one load; an air cooling sub-system; a wet surface cooling sub-system; at least one temperature sensor; a control; and a coolant circulation sub-system for fluidly circulating coolant from the at least one load to the air cooling sub-system to the wet surface cooling sub-system and back to the at least one load. The control selectively operates the wet surface cooling sub-system and the air cooling sub-system based on at least one of temperature sensed in the water circulation sub-system; or sensed ambient temperature.
Claims19
An integrated circulating water cooling system for at least one load, the system comprising:
- an air cooling sub-system that is a dry cooling sub-system that includes a first housing supporting a cooler, a first fan above the cooler, and a second fan below the cooler, the first fan and the second fan being selectively operable to draw air into and through the air cooling sub-system and to force air into and through the air cooling sub-system, respectively;
- a wet surface cooling sub-system that includes a second housing and a plurality of tubes that extend through the second housing;
- at least one temperature sensor;
- a control;
- and
- a coolant circulation sub-system for fluidly circulating coolant from the at least one load to and through the air cooling sub-system then to the wet surface cooling sub-system and then back to the at least one load via a first conduit downstream of and fluidly connecting the wet surface cooling sub-system to the at least one load, the coolant circulation sub-system including a by-pass conduit upstream of the wet surface cooling sub-system and in fluid communication with the first conduit, the coolant circulation sub-system further including a first valve between the by-pass conduit and an inlet of the wet surface cooling sub-system, wherein the first valve is connected to the control;
- wherein the control selectively operates at least one of the wet surface cooling sub-system and the air cooling sub-system based on at least one of:
- temperature sensed in the coolant circulation sub-system;
- and
- sensed ambient temperature;
- wherein the control operates just the air cooling sub-system by closing the first valve to bypass the wet surface cooling sub-system if a sensed temperature of coolant to the wet surface cooling sub-system is lower than a coolant temperature needed by the at least one load;
- and
- wherein the control operates the first fan of the air cooling sub-system to force air through the air cooling sub-system, the second fan of the air cooling sub-system to pull air through the air cooling sub-system, or both the first fan of the air cooling sub-system and the second fan of the air cooling sub-system responsive to at least one of the sensed ambient temperature or the temperature sensed in the coolant circulation sub-system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.