73-03: Analytical Determination of Cooling Tower Drift Eliminators Efficiencies

Drift eliminators are commonly incorporated in wet cooling towers to reduce the amount of water droplet losses. Typical drift eliminator designs embody an array of narrow channels in the vertical flow direction of a cooling tower, which force the air to flow in a direction inclined to the vertical. The efficiency of the drift eliminator is governed by the channel orientation and geometry and by the air flow rate, as well as by the droplet size distribution. Formulations were developed by using flow and drag relationships to derive drift eliminator efficiency and incorporated into a computer program. These calculated efficiencies were compared with experimental values reported in the literature for louver type eliminators.