CrewGuy
Nitro Member
I assume this is it?
CompetitionPlus .com Friday Photos by Roger Richards
CompetitionPlus .com Friday Photos by Roger Richards
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Denver under-track cooling system
- Thread starter CrewGuy
- Start date
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Nitro Member
megadeth
Nitro Member
It's a cooling tower commonly used in buildings to cool the condener water of chillers.
It looks like a Chiller/Cooling Tower package unit and a generator at the end on the trailer to run it and circulation pump pushing the chilled water through the tracks under pavement plumbing it's not rocket science but a cool concept.
A very common piece of building equipment being use in a non coventional way.
I wonder what the tonage is from the size I would say in the neighborhood of 350 to 750 tons of cooling.
It looks like a Chiller/Cooling Tower package unit and a generator at the end on the trailer to run it and circulation pump pushing the chilled water through the tracks under pavement plumbing it's not rocket science but a cool concept.
A very common piece of building equipment being use in a non coventional way.
I wonder what the tonage is from the size I would say in the neighborhood of 350 to 750 tons of cooling.
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Bobby Bennett
Nitro Member
we'll have a story tonight
It is actually a fan cooled chiller . The fans ( on top ) cool down the refrigeration process , there for no need for cooling towers . It is a package type of unit if you want to call it that , meaning that it is all one piece . But there is no cooling tower on this fan cooled unit . Cooling towers use water to cool down the refrigeration process , this unit is definetly fan cooled only . The tiny pump also leads me to believe that there is very little area to be covered under the pavement .
Kind of a waste of its abilities , seen as how they brought the line size down from 8 inch to 4 inch . The amount of fans and the barrell size would lead me to believe it is closer to the 750 ton area give or take a little . I hope it works , the amount of electricity that thing uses is mind numbing . I hope the NHRA is paying for it , not the track owners .
Very interesting to say the least , at 75 foot I would think it would be frugal . At 150 foot or so then I would say that the crew chiefs would have another thing to consider with there tune ups . Going from cool to hot , concrete to asphalt ( if it applies to this track ) , quarter mile to 1000 foot , should give alot of variables . The night time runs seemed much better , so cooler is better I guess .
Plumbing is for potable water or waste . Piping is for process . This is a chill water system or process if you will . I am a pipefitter/welder by trade , so please dont take this personally . Pipefitters and plumbers are a different trade completely . Us pipefitters wash our hands before lunch , plumbers dont
megadeth
Nitro Member
I bet a dime to donuts it uses chilled water to cool the race surface that is why the pump is going into what I presume is the evporator tank and the hoses are running up to the track and is circulated.
We will learn more once Bobby sends us a link in this thread, i hope, to the story about the system.
Now that's great and all but kind of a waste because the air on the mountain is so thin which creating a better surface isn't going to cure.
I bet a dime to donuts it uses chilled water to cool the race surface that is why the pump is going into what I presume is the evporator tank and the hoses are running up to the track and is circulated.
We will learn more once Bobby sends us a link in this thread, i hope, to the story about the system.
Now that's great and all but kind of a waste because the air on the mountain is so thin which creating a better surface isn't going to cure.
I teach this on the side , so you can learn what you need here . There is no cooling tower , show me where it is . I bet my next weeks salary , I hate dimes and donuts . I am a part owner of a rental company that provides temporary cooling (chillers , move and cools , and cooling towers ) to almost every aspect of a needed application . Never at a race track though . The equipment shown is standard for that application .
There is a compressor , evaporator barrell which contains the refrigerent seperately throughout the process than the water that flows through it ; getting the heat removed from it ( think heat exchanger ) , refrigerent coils , and cooling fans that cool the refrigerent after the cycle through the coils which are cooled by the air flow with the fans on top of the unit , end of story . Think radiator and fan .The refrigerent is used in a cycle in which it removes heat from the medium . The medium is chilled water , nothing more . It is circulated under the track , it returns to the chiller a little warmer than it went out . Goes through the process again . That does not mean cooling tower . Big absorption chillers use cooling towers to cool the machine (chiller) so it can repeat the process of removing heat from water . Chillers are chillers , they all have one thing in commen , they cool water or water and glycol mixtures . They are either water cooled ( needing cooling towers to complete the systems ability to cool water ) or air cooled chillers that are all one piece ( air cools the refrigerent process ) But all chillers cool water .
Cooling towers will pull down anywhere between a 10-20 degree delta in the water tempurature , chillers can pull 20-55 degree deltas in water tepurature .
I think you maybe misunderstood me , the fans cool the machines process as a refrigerating machine , not the track through the piping from the fans using air . The water is cooled by the machine . There is two sides to the process , but no cooling towers .
Think of a little air conditioner that sits in a window , there is no cooling tower needed for that . There is an evaporator process that occurs , but it is all self contained . But in this process at the track it is not cooling a room it is cooling water . Because of fans that cool the refrigeration machine , that is cooling the water . The water and the refrigerant are seperated by the evaporator barrell , that is where the goes in and out of the machine . Google cooling towers , you will see the difference . Besides re read what I said and what you said in your first post .
After all this , I love the fact that you obviousley dig Megadeth . Dave is the man .
Johnny Mopar
Nitro Member
I seriously doubt geothermal would be cheaper. To operate maybe, but I think you would be shocked by the installation costs of a system that size compared to the manufactured chiller.
megadeth
Nitro Member
I understand that was my first impression then I examined the picture more thoroughly and does look air cooled.
I have a Universal C.F.C. license. I have worked on Trane, Carrier and Filtrane Chillers in a new business venture. Some units use cooling towers to cool the condenser temp and some use air which you probably know. I find the latter can loose some efficiency when the ambient out side air is to warm.
I agree this application is not common and is creative.
Dave is personally having a hard time right now, he is not just the man, he is a good guy.
CrewGuy
Nitro Member
