Abstract: When air valves are installed at outlet of mechanical cross-flow cooling tower group, part of fans can stop to reduce energy comsumption under low load. To study impact of partition on air volume assignment of cooling tower group with air valve and get better size of partition, cold-state flow field of mechanical draft cross-flow cooling tower group has been simulated, and experiments have been done to prove the reliability of the method. Flow fields of tower group have been compared with five kinds of partitions: no partition, 1/4 height partition, 1/2 height partition, 3/4 height partition and sealing. This paper has analyzed the air volume balance between modules, variation rule of total air volume and uniformity of inlet air volume distribution of module without fan running. Number of modules beside single module running under different height partition mentioned above respectively are 6, 4, 4, 2 and 0, and air volume of those modules are not less than 10% of the module running. Along with the increase of partition height, total air volume first increases and then decreases; air volume balance between modules becomes worse; inlet air volume uniformity of module without fan running becomes better. Take all thought into consideration, 1/2 height partition is better.

Key words: cooling tower group, air valve, partition, air flow