Experimental Study and Engineering Validation of Fountain Cooling Using Biomimetic Nozzle Arrangement

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jes.202602214

Author(s)

Yinuo Wang1, Ningyu Su1, Wenhao Li1, Yongjiang Shi1,2,3,4,*

Affiliation(s)

1Department of Energy Engineering, Hebei University of Architecture, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China 2Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy Storage and Utilization Equipment, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China 3Zhangjiakou Renewable Energy Heating Engineering Technology Research Center, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China 4Hebei Province Energy Storage Heating Technology Innovation Center, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

This paper proposes a biomimetic nozzle arrangement strategy and an integrated approach of experimental investigation and engineering validation to evaluate a model of heat and mass transfer for water columns previously proposed. A 50.24 m², circular dry fountain was tested for the cooling effect under the typical summer weather conditions in Zhangjiakou. The average temperature difference of the cooling water measured was 3.95 °C and the predicted value of the model was 4.2 °C, with a relative error of only 6.3 %. Based on these findings, the model was then implemented on a large-scale rectangular dry fountain with an area of 850.5 m² having 180 nozzles and the nozzles were arranged according to the Fibonacci sequence. The heat dissipation capacity of the system was calculated to be 3,218.76 kW with the cooling water temperature decreased by 4.5°C, which showed a great cooling effect from 32 °C to 26 °C when the system was operationally deployed. These results validate the model's performance and applicability to laboratory experiments and large-scale engineering problems. Comparing the fountain system to traditional cooling towers, under the same thermal load conditions the fountain system has a lower cooling water flow rate. Moreover, both systems reduce cooling water temperatures by similar amounts at the same flow rate, suggesting a possibility of using a fountain condenser as an alternative or supplement to the traditional cooling tower.

Keywords

Fountain Cooling; Heat and Mass Transfer; Biomimetic Arrangement; Experimental Validation; Engineering Application

References

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