Closed cooling towers and evaporative condensers (evaporative cooling for short) are two common cooling devices in industry. What are the similarities and differences between the two?

1. From the appearance
From the appearance, the closed cooling tower and the evaporative condenser are made of the same material and have a very similar structure. In a sense, the closed cooling tower is an evaporative condenser.

2. Differences in working principles
The closed cooling tower is a heat exchange device that removes heat by cooling the heat medium in the tower. It uses two circulating cooling methods that are completely isolated from the inside and outside. Through multiple heat exchanges between spray water and cold air, the temperature in the tower is reduced, and then the latent heat of vaporization is used to cool the internal circulating water.

Evaporative condenser is a device that uses the principles of evaporation and condensation to complete heat transfer. Evaporative condensers are usually used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems to cool high-temperature and high-pressure steam into liquid. Its working principle is that by placing high-temperature and high-pressure steam in the condenser, the steam will dissipate heat and gradually cool down, thereby turning into a liquid.

3. Different heat transfer methods
The closed cooling tower cools by transferring heat between the spray water and the cooled medium.

The evaporative condenser uses the heat transfer during evaporation and condensation to complete the cooling. In the evaporative condenser, the heat transfer between high-temperature and high-pressure steam and the condensing medium is achieved through the process of evaporation and condensation.

4. Different cooling media in the tube
The closed cooling tower coil uses water, while the evaporative cooling uses other refrigerants.
The fundamental difference between the two is that the final form of the cooled medium in the evaporative condenser has changed, that is, the gaseous cooling medium is cooled and condensed into a liquid.

The form of the cooled medium in the closed cooling tower does not change, and the cooling only reduces the temperature of the cooled medium.

5. Differences in system pipelines
The evaporative condenser is connected to a closed system, which basically has a certain pressure.

The closed cooling tower has a closed circuit, and some are open, so the pressure is relatively low or no pressure in many operating conditions.

6. Differences in application areas
There are also differences in the application areas of closed cooling towers and evaporative condensers.

Closed cooling towers are mainly used in industrial and chemical fields, such as metallurgy, electricity, petrochemicals and other industries. They are used to treat cooling return water, circulating water, coolants, etc. to achieve the purpose of lowering the temperature.

Evaporative condensers are mainly used in air conditioning, refrigeration and chemical industries to condense and recover high-temperature and high-pressure steam for reuse.