States that with the use of wet cooling towers, 'drift' refers to small droplets of circulating water that are carried out of the cooling tower by the saturated exhaust air. Inertial impaction separators, known as drift eliminators, are used to strip the water droplets from the exhaust air. To achieve peak cooling tower operating efficiency, losses in fan system performance due to the drift eliminators must be minimised. Describes an experimental methodology developed for evaluating the effects of drift eliminator design on cooling tower fan system performance. Deals with a demonstration of the methodology by using it to investigate the effects of two different styles of drift eliminators.

KEYWORDS: Cooling towers, fans, aerosols, water, performance, calculating