11-23: Retrofit Of Cooling Fans In Hybrid Cooling Tower With Energy Savings

This paper summarizes the Cooling Tower Fan Upgrade Project undertaken at Kuala Langat Power Plant (Malaysia) and the results of performance verification tests in a full scale, practical industrial application. The primary objective of the improvement project is to overcome the existing problem of overload stress failures in operating gear reducer, by replacing the high efficiency and light weight construction ELF6 Fan in the hybrid cooling tower cells. In addition to reduction in input energy to fan drives and improved vibration level, the reduction in gearbox mechanical load and fan drive power closer to its rated limit is expected to bring about fewer number of gear failures and therefore higher reliability of the cooling tower fans.