[TheArkerportian]

http://www.elvastowe...eenshot&id=1751
File Name: DORI1
File Submitter: TheArkerportian
File Submitted: 10 Jan 2014
File Category: Buildings

Some kind of industrial equipment of which I have no idea what it's good for. Uses lots over lots water for artificial waterfalls. Maybe acooler for whatever?
Night and snow textures.
Place of origin: Dormagen, Germany.

Click here to download this file

[inflammable]

It *looks* like a cooling system for a small steam power plant. The fuel would be coal or natural gas. The steam, after passing through the steam turbines, would be condensed, and that water would go back into the boiler. The cooling water, which would condense the steam, in some cases could be water directly from the environment, a nearby river, bay, or ocean, while in other cases a cooler like this would be used, to further cool that water before returning to the river.

If you dump a significant portion of warm water back into a smaller river, then the overall temperature of the river would be affected, which in turn can drastically alter the animal and plant life. In the U.S., there are regulations about this. So the warm water would be cooled by a cooler such as this, in order to protect the environment.

I hope that some of this makes sense.

James

[TheArkerportian]

Thanks, that would make a lot of sense! The Rhine river is not far from there.

[Weter]

It's need to add some notes:
1. This looks very similar to gradiers, I've seen.
That installations were invented in Holland, initially for salt extracting from water.
If so, many kinds of industry (not power plants exclusively) use water-cooling of their equipment, which produce a heat, as a side-product.
The example would be galvanizing facilities, the induction foundry heaters, the high-frequency powerful devices, chemical plants, oil refineries, plastic-stuff producing, etc.
As well, that may be even large chilling installations, as used on hockey arenas of food plants.
For that reasons, the dedicated systems or "return water supplying" are used.
For reliability of cooling, the amount of water used is much greater, than minimal-needed, so it becomes only warm, but not hot after contact with equipment, being cooled. Here is the task: how can it be cooled itself? that may be special cooling-machines, but it's very expensive (power-consumption, maintenance, hardware costs)
But, where there are no tight limitations, the air is used.
The heat-exchange may be indirect (through pipe's walls) as it done in automobile radiators, in house water-heating systems, or in air-conditioners, or direct, when water contacts with air directly. The common rule is: larger the surface of contact-effectively an exchange.
http://inspro.pro/site_images/materials/preview/img_653.png
Now, look to that structure's screenshot: the cooling water, propelled by pumps, goes up, where it spills on lattices, made of, say, wooden planks. (plastic PVC, LDPE, asbo-cement foils)
The multi-layered lattice are covered by walls from sides, and this is a largest, middle part of our structure.
This way, the thin film of water covers lattice. The excessive water drops on lower levels of lattice in form of small streams, or, which is better, as separate drops.
The air around takes the heat from water, becomes less dense and goes up, where encounters more warm water, which heats it further. Small amount of water evaporates, but 1% evaporation lowers temperature by ~6 degrees. Though resupply of lost water is needed. Else, the fog-trap is used to mimimize of small drops flying away.
If the weather is hot, there are a number of electric fans in barrel-like tunnels, seen above, which accelerate the air flow, when turned on, so it's possible to force the process to go more intensive.
After exchange, the water gathers at the basin under the structure, where cools further, contacting with ground, through concrete walls.
The great minus is, that any dust, trash, lives, debris, carried by wind falls there too, so the water becomes dirty.
From that basins, the water is taken by other pumps and directed to cooling system network again.
There are signs along pipelines, that this is technical water and its not for drinking.
https://gradirni.tmim.ru/images/gradirni/image10.jpg
Large power stations have huge gadiers, in form of upside-down buckets, made of armed concrete, or panels, supported by steel skeleton.
Interesting facts about cooling towers in Germany and worldwide.
Izar, Kalkar, Im.
Their walls produce significant draft, so there is no need of electric fans then.
2. The compromiss variant was cooling ponds, but they must have huge size.