Installation Guide for Cooling Tower Drift Eliminator

The drift eliminator is the "droplet recovery station" of the cooling tower. If it is not installed properly, it is equivalent to scattering the circulating water into the sky in vain. The installation process can be broken down into five steps: "positioning → piecing together pieces → locking rods → edge pressing → leak detection". The following will explain them all in sequence on site.

I. Positioning: Draw lines first, then cantilever

According to the completion drawing, mark the horizontal reference lines around the inner wall of the tower with an error of no more than 3mm. The top surface of the water collector should be 200mm above the water distribution pipe to prevent splashing water from directly passing over.

Four Angle steel cantilever beams are erected at the tower corners, and φ 10mm long round holes are drilled on the beams to facilitate fine-tuning of the elevation in the later stage. A 5mm neoprene rubber pad is placed between the support beam and the tower shell to prevent electrochemical corrosion.

II. Splicing: Same-direction corrugation, staggered seam splicing

The common sheet materials are PVC/ABS corrugated plates, with a sheet spacing of 30mm. When assembling, the corrugation direction must be parallel to the airflow; otherwise, the resistance will increase by approximately 15%.

The "top pressing bottom" lap joint is adopted, with a lap width of ≥ 20mm. The lap is pressed along the direction of the airflow to avoid peeling. Each layer of the sheet is locked with plastic pins, with a pin spacing of no more than 300mm to prevent it from being sucked apart by vacuum during operation.

III. Lock Rod: Stainless steel through rod with pins

A φ 6mm 304 stainless steel through rod is inserted every 600mm, with anti-loosening caps at both ends. Iron galvanized rods are prohibited to prevent rust powder from dripping and clogging the packing.

After the through rod is inserted, the entire structure should be rechecked with a level, and the local depression should be no more than 5mm. If the depression is too large, it can be raised with PVC gaskets to ensure uniform air flow.

IV. Edge pressing: Double sealing with edge strips and rubber pads

The periphery is pressed against the edge of the sheet with a 30× 3mm PVC pressure strip and fixed with self-tapping screws, with a screw spacing of no more than 200mm. Apply glue to the screw holes first to prevent short-circuit air flow.

A φ 10mm sponge rubber strip is inserted between the pressure strip and the tower wall, with a compression rate of 50%. It not only absorbs thermal expansion and contraction but also prevents water droplets from escaping along the wall.

V. Leak Detection: Light Method + Differential Pressure method

Turn off the lights and shine a flashlight against the light. If there are no light-transmitting points at the seams of the film, it is qualified. Light transmission = air leakage = water floating in the future.

Start the fan and measure the static pressure difference between the upper and lower parts of the water collector. The design value should be within 120 Pa. If the pressure exceeds 150 Pa, it indicates that the distance between the pieces is partially blocked by garbage or installed in reverse. Stop the machine immediately for rectification.

VI. Safety and Maintenance

For high-altitude work, double-layer scaffolding must be erected and full-body safety belts must be worn. The tools are fastened with anti-fall ropes.

Open the maintenance door every quarter and use a 0.3 MPa water gun to flush from top to bottom to prevent dust from clogging the corrugated trough. After rinsing, remeasure the pressure difference and record it for archiving.

Before the machine is shut down in winter, dry the water droplets on the surface of the water collector to prevent the PVC sheet from cracking due to freezing at night.

Following this construction process, two workers can complete the installation of a 600 square meter water collector in one day, and the water drift rate can be controlled below 0.001% of the circulating water volume, meeting the national water-saving enterprise assessment standards