Engineering consulting

Cooling system consulting, done with our own models

We answer questions about the thermal performance of cooling systems in power and process plants, HVAC, refrigeration and data centers, from the first sizing of a new system to the audit of a plant that has run for decades. Every study uses the software we develop ourselves.

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Services

What we do

Eight kinds of study, for new projects and for plants in operation.

Performance audits

We find out why a cooling system delivers less than it should and what that costs in plant output. The audit includes an economic life cycle analysis.

Independent design verification

We check the thermal design of a cooling system with AEON, independently of the supplier. Recent work includes the thermal verification of a large-scale air-cooled condenser for a combined cycle power plant, on behalf of the EPC contractor.

Sizing and specification

We size cooling systems on life cycle cost, at design and off-design conditions, and draft the technical specification for your enquiry.

Wind and recirculation studies

CFD analysis shows how a system performs in wind and how much a mitigation measure recovers. We work out the payback period for each measure.

Hybridization and plume abatement

Thermal and techno-economic studies show whether converting a dry or wet system to dry/wet operation is viable, including the risk of a visible plume.

Brownfield and fuel-switch projects

We build a model of the existing cooling system and produce performance maps for its new role, for example with variable speed fans.

Product development support

Thermal and economic analyses for new products: hybrid cooling systems, customized axial flow fans, fills and heat transfer equipment.

HVAC, refrigeration and data centers

The same methods now serve equipment beyond the power plant. Recent work includes coil calculation engines for a European and a South African manufacturer of refrigeration equipment, and the thermal rating of dry coolers for a data center cooling supplier.

CFD simulation of the hot air plume from an air-cooled condenser under crosswind

In-house CFD · air-cooled condenser plume under crosswind

How we work

Two tools of our own behind every study

Standard methods treat a cooling system as one averaged unit. Our studies resolve it fan by fan and bundle by bundle.

AEON. Our thermal design software calculates every component of the system individually, at design and off-design conditions.PLUME. Our in-house CFD tool, built on OpenFOAM, has its own models for finned-tube heat exchangers and axial flow fans. Both are validated against performance characteristics measured in laboratory and wind tunnel tests.Together. The flow distribution across the fans and the air inlet temperatures calculated by PLUME go into the AEON model. The effect of wind then appears as megawatts and not only as a flow picture.

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Project example · EnBW, Altbach/Deizisau

An existing hybrid cooling tower in a new role

EnBW is replacing the coal-fired Unit 1 at Altbach/Deizisau, a 433 MWe combined heat and power plant, with a hydrogen-ready combined cycle plant that will reuse the existing dry/wet hybrid cooling tower. The supplier’s original performance curves no longer described the aged tower, and they covered only a few fixed fan speeds. We modeled the tower in AEON and delivered performance maps across fan speeds and ambient conditions. EnBW used them in its plant cycle simulations to estimate the fan power saved by variable speed drives.

0.3 °CAverage deviation of the AEON model from measured cooling water temperatures
6.1 °CAverage deviation of the original performance curves from the same measurements
665 MWeNet output of the new plant that the existing tower will serve

Published with EnBW’s engineers: Zapke, Terblanche, Breining and Abröll, “Application of thermal performance digital twins for cooling systems at fuel-switch and brownfield projects”, vgbe energy journal 7, 2024.

Experience

Engineers who have built and tested these systems

We consult in the fields we have worked in ourselves, at manufacturers, on site and in research. Albert Zapke advised the US Electric Power Research Institute on large-scale cooling systems from 2014 to 2017, and together we have published 20 journal and conference papers.

Dry cooling

Lead engineer and project engineer for the air-cooled condenser of Medupi Power Station, from supply and installation to commissioning and performance testing. Thermal rating software and CFD modeling for system suppliers and plant owners.

Wet cooling

Detailed modeling of evaporative cooling systems, including rain zone and fill configuration analyses, built on doctoral research into the rain zone performance of wet cooling towers.

Hybrid cooling

Design of a hybrid dry/wet cooling system for concentrated solar power plants in the EU-funded project MinWaterCSP, 2016 to 2018, which produced the deluge air-cooled condenser concept.

Fans

Design, testing and modeling of large axial flow fans, with research at Stellenbosch University on blade loading, vibration and fan performance. ASME Best Paper Award 2015.

CFD analysis

Cooling system analyses with our own heat exchanger and fan models in OpenFOAM, and experience with ANSYS Fluent and CFX.

Software development

Thermal rating and analysis software, written mainly in C++ and C#, with experience in Python, VBA and Fortran.

About the team →

Tell us what your
cooling system should do

Send us the question and the data you have. An engineer replies, usually within two working days.

Discuss your project →See the software