Application of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for Optimization of Operating Parameters and Performance Evaluation of Cooling Tower Cold Water Temperature

Abstract

The performance of a cooling tower was analyzed with various operating parameters tofind the minimum cold water temperature. In this study, optimization of operating parameters wasinvestigated. An experimental design was carried out based on central composite design (CCD) withresponse surface methodology (RSM). This paper presents optimum operating parameters and theminimum cold water temperature using the RSM method. The RSM was used to evaluate the effectsof operating variables and their interaction towards the attainment of their optimum conditions.Based on the analysis, air flow, hot water temperature and packing height were high significanteffect on cold water temperature. The optimum operating parameters were predicted using the RSMmethod and confirmed through experiment.

Keywords

• Cooling tower
• Optimization
• Response surface methodology
• Cold water