Brentwood’s AccuPac XF75, XF75IL, and XF75ID crossflow fills are suitable replacement fills for all manufacturers’ crossflow cooling towers, including Marley, BAC, Evapco, and more. Specially designed for today’s higher capacity cooling towers, where high water loading and air velocities are the norm, they replace the OEM hanging sheets with solid modules of rigid PVC film pack. Once installed, this system forms a long-term, trouble-free replacement for the OEM material, and since it’s bottom supported, it allows for the basin to be cleaned out and individual modules to be replaced should that necessity ever arise.
Additionally, the installation of the AccuPac fill system will provide performance that equals or betters that of the OEM fill material. Our customers (many of you guys!) have successfully repacked hundreds of crossflow cooling towers of all makes and sizes and across many applications with our XF75 fill system.
So, if you’re going to repack a crossflow tower, what information do you need? Well, you need to know what “fill” space you need to fill!
- The total volume (A/T D x W x H x # air inlet sides x # cells) of the fill section.
- For height, you must establish the Clear Vertical Space (CVS) available for the fill. Then, back out the height of the fill supports to yield the resulting height for the fill packs.
- Generally speaking, the replacement fill should be placed in the same position as the OEM fill.
- Determine what type of louvers and drift eliminators are required, knowing what the original equipment is and what the desired “after repack” configuration is going to be.
- Be aware that the replacement fill is a “system” and that you need to design the system to fit the specific tower you’re working on, including water distribution, retainers, water diverters, air seals, etc.
In order to properly repack a tower, you must consider and properly manage the air and water flow through the tower so that you can ensure the water remains within the fill section and the cooling tower can do its work efficiently. With the versatility of the XF75/IL/ID system, the many different combinations of fill sections that are possible allow you to meet the needs of almost any tower.
For more on this topic, please reference these documents, which are located in myBrentwood on the Brentwood website:
- Single-Stack XF Tower Dimension Worksheet
- Double-Stack XF Tower Dimension Worksheet
- Single-Stack XF Tower – Original vs. Repack Configuration
- Double-Stack XF Tower – Original vs. Repack Configuration
Flammability of film fills is a “hot” topic these days. Seriously, it’s one that we get asked about pretty frequently since we produce both Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polypropylene (PP) film fills.
So, the first thing to note is that PP film fills can be used for higher temperature applications than the same fill product made from PVC. This is purely due to the material properties and their corresponding heat deflection temperatures, allowing PP fills to operate at higher water temps.
Another critical aspect that is often overlooked is the surface energy difference between PVC and PP products. PVC has a much lower surface energy and ages faster than PP, which has a surface characteristic that closely resembles that of a non-stick cooking pan. From CTI paper TP00-01 published by Rich Aull and Tim Krell, we find that “polypropylene fills will not achieve their full performance potential for 2-3 times that of PVC and may never at the lower water rates.”
Lastly, and in general, it is clear that PP is much more flammable than PVC. PVC is inherently a self-extinguishing, fire-retardant material due to the abundance of chlorine in its formulation. In contrast, PP can be more closely viewed as a solid hydrocarbon fuel and is very combustible.
To learn more about this topic in greater detail, click the button below to read our recent blog post!
Spectra drift eliminators are site-assembled, blade-style drift eliminators that have been utilized in both counterflow and crossflow cooling towers for the past 30 years. Today, we see Spectra most frequently used in the replacement market, dirty water applications, or for long-span applications such as in counterflow, natural draft towers.
The Spectra DE is comprised of a series of extruded, double-walled, blades and sets of spacers. The spacers come in two sizes: the “C” spacer allows for 2.5″ (63.5 mm) of space between blades, while the “A” spacer provides for 2.75″ (69.85 mm). These sizes allow for drift performance and plugging resistance options.
Because the product is not shipped assembled, freight costs can be greatly reduced due to the nesting capability of the components. And field assembly is super easy with a positive locking design that provides for a very sturdy final product without the need for glues or solvents.
Since Spectra is designed for the dirtiest water applications, it has been engineered to handle cleaning with pressure washers. Match this ruggedness with its span capabilities of 8-10 ft., and you have a great eliminator for natural draft towers!
NEW LITERATURE!
Did you know that Brentwood has been working to improve our sales material in order to provide you (and your contacts) with the best and most up-to-date information? So far, we’ve created brand new literature for cross-fluted, vertical-fluted, and offset-fluted film fills, as well as crossflow and counterflow cellular drift eliminators.
These materials can be accessed from the myBrentwood portion of our website.
