Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
Cooling tower during a field test.
Cooling is essential for many power plant and industrial processes. We research the use of cooling in numerous areas, including steam turbine plants, machine cooling and process cooling in the chemical and food industries.
Cooling processes come in many different shapes and sizes. They may or may not involve phase changes, they can be performed in open or closed systems, and they can take place either in detached systems or in very compact systems integrated into the equipment itself. In cooperation with our industrial partners, we design heat exchangers, simulate and measure components and evaluate performance with respect to various aspects, including heat transfer, pressure drops, pollution, the cost of materials and durability.
Our R&D activities in the field of »Cooling Processes and Cooling Towers« comprise the following:
- Analyses of the proportion of cooling in the overall energy demand
- Heat transfer measurements and the evaluation of heat exchangers, e.g. from the automotive industry and industrial processes
- Selection and evaluation of cooling agents and refrigerants
- Development of heat exchanger designs using
- Simulations
- Measurements
- Development of cooling towers with the support of
- Pollution analysis
- Evaluation of concepts such as dry/wet/hybrid
- Air-cooled condenser designs
- Spraying tests