\"Sharing Winter Anti-freezing Experiences: What Was Unexpected Was the Freezing Collapse of the Cooling Tower\"

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This post was last edited by Jiangshang Shanren on 2017-11-20 at 11:07. “Sharing experiences on preventing freezing in winter: What wasn’t expected was the collapse of the cooling tower.” On one cold night in 2015, the temperature dropped to -20°C (in our area, the coldest temperatures in winter are usually around -10°C), with the northwest wind blowing strongly. Drops of water turn into ice, and steam dissipates in no time; that night, the team was extremely busy, with everyone working together to prevent freezing. Even the supervisors on duty who usually check in after getting enough sleep also joined the efforts to prevent freezing. A cooling tower, or chill tower, is used to cool the water in water coolers. Those ice lumps form really quickly, especially on the north side. What can be done? Stop the circulating water – that definitely won’t work; the device can’t function in those conditions. So, use long iron pipes to break the ice from below. I smashed piece after piece; I was sweating profusely, yet my hands were icy cold. The water flowing down the iron pipe reaches one’s hands and sleeves; with the wind blowing, it feels incredibly cool, bringing a sense of refreshing chill to the heart. But unfortunately, around 5 p.m. that day, the cooling tower of one of the facilities collapsed due to freezing. Several galvanized pipes in the load-bearing filler at the bottom of the cooling tower were pulled down by the ice; without support, some of the filler spilled out. Now things are really lively; the fillers in the recirculation tank are floating and sinking, creating a lot of noise. But I still don’t dare to stop; it’s so cold, so I reduce production to maintain the heat source. A hasty emergency stop can cause the device to freeze somewhere, which is even more dangerous. Later, some circulating water was diverted from other units to supply the unit that had collapsed due to freezing, and the collapsed cooling tower was completely demolished and rebuilt. Reconstruction would require a huge investment, as the steel used in the load-bearing parts has to be upgraded to a higher grade. The freeze-collapse of the cooling tower did have an impact; the heat exchange efficiency of some coolers was reduced, which was puzzling. After removing the cover of those coolers, the reason became clear. The filler fragments (plastic) from the cooling tower were also drawn out by the circulation pump; there was no problem in the main pipelines, but at the inlet of the water cooler tubes, the blockage was severe. With less circulating water entering the heat exchanger, the natural heat exchange effect becomes poor.