Counterflow cooling fan machine is a special equipment designed based on the theory of “counterflow enhanced heat exchange”.
Counterflow cooling fan makes high-temperature medium and low-temperature cooling medium (air, water, etc.) flow in the opposite direction in the heat exchange area, and uses the temperature difference gradient between the two to achieve efficient heat exchange, thereby reducing the temperature of the high-temperature medium.
A counterflow air cooler is a device that uses the reverse flow of the medium to enhance the heat exchange principle to achieve rapid cooling, purification and transportation of high-temperature fluids (air, water or specific materials). It is widely used in agricultural planting, industrial cooling, commercial air conditioning, food processing auxiliary cooling and other fields. It is an efficient heat exchange device that connects high-temperature working conditions with low-temperature demand links.
Its core function is to cool high-temperature media (such as hot air in greenhouses, hot air discharged from industrial equipment, and high-temperature airflow in food processing) from 35-80°C to 15-30°C (adjusted according to demand).
At the same time, auxiliary functions such as filtration and dehumidification are used to improve the cleanliness of the medium and ensure the stability of subsequent processes (such as equipment operation, environmental control, material storage, etc.).
The core structure of the counterflow air cooler consists of five key systems that work together to achieve efficient heat exchange and medium transportation:
Composition: It includes heat exchange cavity (enclosed space for medium flow, with heat exchange surface, such as metal coil, corrugated filler or porous plate, etc.), guide plate (to guide the reverse flow of cold and hot medium to avoid short circuit), partition (to separate the cold and hot medium channels to prevent mixing), etc.
| Provide heat exchange space | The high-temperature medium and the cooling medium are in reverse contact in the cavity, and heat transfer is completed through the heat exchange surface; |
| Enhanced heat exchange | The guide plate guides the medium to be evenly distributed and maximizes the contact area (e.g. the filler structure allows the water film to fully contact the air); |
| Isolation medium | If the hot and cold media are of different types (e.g. air and water), separators can avoid cross contamination (e.g. preventing cooling water from mixing with hot air in industrial cooling). |
Composition: including main conveying equipment (axial flow/centrifugal fan for gas medium and water pump for liquid medium), inlet and outlet pipes/air holes (connecting the external system with the heat exchange chamber), flow control valve (controlling the medium flow and adjusting the heat exchange intensity).
| Driving medium flow | Send high-temperature medium into the heat exchange cavity, and send cooling medium (such as cold air, cold water) in the reverse direction; |
| Controlling traffic | By adjusting the valve to change the medium flow (such as fan speed, water pump power) to adapt to different heat exchange requirements (such as high temperature medium needs to increase the cooling medium flow); |
| Directional conveying | ensure that the medium flows along the preset path (such as high-temperature air entering from the top of the cavity and cold air entering from the bottom, forming reverse convection). |
The cooling medium supply system consists of cooling medium source (such as cooling tower circulating water, municipal tap water, ambient cold air), pretreatment device (filter, descaling device to prevent impurities from clogging the heat exchange surface), storage/circulation components (water tank, circulation pump, suitable for liquid cooling medium).
| Provide low-temperature medium | deliver clean cooling medium to the heat exchange system (temperature is usually 10-30℃ lower than high-temperature medium); |
| Ensure medium quality | filter impurities (such as dust in the air, scale in the water) to avoid blockage or corrosion of the heat exchange surface; |
| Recycling | Recycle liquid cooling media (such as water) to reduce consumption (for example, cooling water can be reused in agricultural greenhouse cooling). |
Composition: including temperature sensor (detecting the inlet/outlet temperature of high-temperature medium and the temperature of cooling medium), flow controller (adjusting the fan speed or water pump flow), PLC control cabinet (equipped with some models to achieve automatic adjustment), alarm device (such as triggering an alarm when the heat exchange surface is blocked or the medium temperature is abnormal).
| Monitoring heat exchange effect | Real-time detection of outlet temperature (usually controlled within ±2℃ of target temperature) to ensure cooling meets the standard; |
| Dynamic adjustment parameters | When the initial temperature of high-temperature medium fluctuates (such as industrial hot air temperature rises from 60℃ to 75℃), the cooling medium flow rate is automatically increased to maintain the outlet temperature stable; |
| Protect equipment | Avoid overheating of the heat exchange surface due to low flow (such as dry burning of metal coils) or energy waste due to high flow. |
Composition: It includes a rigid frame (supporting the heat exchange cavity, fan and other core components), an insulation layer (wrapping the heat exchange cavity to reduce environmental heat dissipation losses), and a protective net/shell (to prevent foreign objects from entering and ensure safe operation).
| Structural stability | ensure the overall rigidity of the equipment under medium flow pressure and vibration (such as fan operation); |
| Reduced heat loss | the insulation layer reduces the heat exchange between the heat exchange cavity and the environment (such as preventing cold air from absorbing ambient heat during winter cooling); |
| Safety protection | Prevent personnel from contacting high-temperature components (such as the outer wall of the heat exchange cavity) or high-speed flowing media (such as fan blades). |
The working principle of the counterflow air cooler is based on the “reverse flow enhanced heat exchange” mechanism, which maximizes the temperature gradient through the reverse contact of the cold and hot media to achieve efficient cooling:
How does the Counterflow air cooler work?
High-temperature medium (such as 60℃ hot air discharged from industrial equipment, 45℃ circulating water after food processing) enters from one end of the heat exchange cavity, while cooling medium (such as 25℃ cold air, 15℃ cooling water) enters from the other end of the cavity in reverse.
In the heat exchange cavity, the hot and cold media complete heat transfer through the heat exchange surface (or direct contact, such as spray water and air):
The high-temperature medium releases heat: the temperature gradually decreases from the initial 35-80℃ (such as hot air drops to 25℃, hot water drops to 20℃);
The cooling medium absorbs heat: the temperature rises accordingly (e.g. cold air rises from 25°C to 35°C, cooling water rises from 15°C to 25°C);
Enhanced heat exchange: Due to the reverse flow, the high-temperature medium inlet corresponds to the cooling medium outlet (highest temperature), and the high-temperature medium outlet corresponds to the cooling medium inlet (lowest temperature). The maximum temperature difference is maintained throughout the process (30%-50% higher than the temperature difference of co-current heat exchange), which greatly improves the heat exchange efficiency.
The cooled high-temperature medium (which has been reduced to the target temperature) is discharged from the end of the cavity and enters the subsequent process (such as cold air transportation in greenhouses and circulation systems of industrial equipment);
The cooling medium (with increased temperature) after absorbing heat is discharged from the other end (it can be recycled or discharged directly, such as cooling water can be returned to the cooling tower for cooling and then circulated).
Counterflow air coolers are widely used in scenarios that require rapid cooling, covering agriculture, industry, commerce, etc., due to their efficient heat exchange characteristics.
Cooling the hot summer air (reducing the air temperature from 35-40℃ to 25-30℃), and regulating humidity to provide a suitable growth environment for crops (such as vegetables and flowers);
Cool down the hot and stuffy air in the breeding house (reducing the air temperature from 30-35℃ to 20-25℃), reduce the heat stress of livestock and poultry, and improve the survival rate.
Cool the hot air (60-80°C) exhausted during the operation of small and medium-sized machinery (such as injection molding machines and motors) to prevent the equipment from overloading due to high temperature;
Cooling industrial circulating water (such as hot water in electroplating tanks and hot oil in hydraulic systems) reduces the 40-60℃ medium to 20-30℃ to ensure process stability.
local cooling of small shopping malls and workshops (such as cooling 32℃ air to 24℃), 30% lower energy consumption than traditional air conditioning;
cooling high-temperature ambient air in food workshops (such as cooling 45℃ air in baking workshops to 30℃), to prevent high ambient temperature from affecting product cooling efficiency.
Cooling small industrial exhaust gas (such as 50-70℃ exhaust gas discharged from drying equipment) to reduce the temperature for subsequent purification (such as activated carbon adsorption) and improve purification efficiency;
Cool high-temperature wastewater (such as 40-50℃ wastewater discharged from food factories) to meet the discharge temperature standard (usually ≤35℃).
Compared with downstream air coolers, cross-flow air coolers, spray air coolers and other equipment, the core advantages of countercurrent air coolers are reflected in the following aspects:
The countercurrent flow allows the hot and cold media to maintain the maximum temperature difference throughout the process (such as the temperature difference between the high-temperature medium inlet and the cooling medium outlet can reach 30-50℃), and the heat exchange rate is 20%-40% higher than the downstream type;
With the same equipment size, the temperature reduction range is larger (for example, when processing 60℃ air, the countercurrent type can reduce the temperature to 25℃, while the cocurrent type can only reduce the temperature to 35℃), which is suitable for the rapid cooling needs of high-temperature media.
Due to high heat exchange efficiency, the consumption of cooling medium (water, air) is 15%-30% less than that of the co-current type at the same cooling amount (e.g., to cool 1000m³ of hot air per hour, the fan power of the counter-current type is 2.2kW, while that of the co-current type is 3.5kW);
If a circulating cooling system (such as cooling water circulation) is used, the amount of medium replenishment can be reduced (such as saving more than 40% of water in agricultural applications).
The counter-flow design can shorten the heat exchange path (under the same heat exchange efficiency, the equipment length is 30%-50% shorter than the downstream type), and occupies a small area (about 1-3 square meters for small and medium-sized models), which is suitable for scenes with limited space such as workshops and greenhouses;
No complicated piping arrangement is required (such as the cross-flow type which requires multiple sets of parallel channels), and the installation is flexible (it can be wall-mounted or placed vertically).
It can handle various forms of media: gas (air, industrial waste gas), low-viscosity liquid (water, lubricating oil), and has a stronger tolerance for media impurities (for example, air containing a small amount of dust can be handled after filtering);
For high humidity media (such as humid air), the heat transfer efficiency of the downstream air cooler will drop significantly, while the countercurrent type is less affected by humidity due to more complete contact.
There are no complicated moving parts (such as the core is a static heat exchange chamber + fan/water pump), and the failure rate is reduced by more than 50% compared with the spray type (the nozzle is easy to clog);
Daily maintenance only requires cleaning the filter device and checking the fan/water pump (single maintenance time ≤ 20 minutes), which is simpler than the cross-flow type (which requires cleaning of multiple sets of parallel waterways).
Although it is slightly inferior to dedicated cooling equipment in handling high-viscosity media (such as oils), its comprehensive cost-effectiveness (balance between efficiency and cost) performs well in small and medium-sized production lines in the agricultural, industrial and commercial fields, and is an ideal choice for cooling high-temperature media and energy-saving operation.
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