Cooling rates of mechanical draft towers depend upon various parameters;

such as fan diameter and speed of operation, flls for system resistance, etc.There
are two diferent classes of mechanical draft cooling towers:
a. Forced draft
It has one or more fans located at the tower ottom to push air into the tower.
!uring operation, the fan forces air at a low velocity hori"ontally through the
pac#ing and then vertically against the downward $ow of the water that occurs
on either side of the fan. The drift eliminators located at the top of the tower
remove water entrained in the air. %iration and noise are minimal since the
rotating e&uipment is uilt on a solid foundation. The fans handle mostly dry air,
greatly reducing erosion and water condensation prolems.
Forced draft cooling tower
. Induced draft
' mechanical draft tower with a fan at the discharge which pulls air through
tower. The fan induces hot moist air out the discharge. This produces low entering
and high e(iting air velocities, reducing the possiility of recirculation in which
discharged air $ows ac# into the air inta#e.
Induced draft cooling tower
Fans
'luminum, glass fer and hot)dipped galvani"ed steel are commonly used as fan
materials. Centrifugal fans are often faricated from galvani"ed steel. *ropeller fans
are made from galvani"ed steel, aluminum, or molded glass fer reinforced plastic.
Cooling tower fans must move large volumes of air e+ciently, and with minimum
viration. The materials of manufacture must not only e compatile with their
design, ut must also e capale of withstanding the corrosive efects of the
environment in which the fans are re&uired to operate.
a. *ropeller fans: They have aility to move vast &uantities of air at the relatively
low static pressure encountered. They are comparatively ine(pensive, may e used
on any si"e tower, and can develop high overall e+ciencies; ut their application
naturally tends to e limited y the numer of pro,ects of su+cient si"e to warrant
their consideration.
. 'utomatic variale)pitch fans: They are ale to vary air$ow through the tower in
response to a changing load or amient condition.
c. Centrifugal fans: They are usually used on cooling towers designed for indoor
installations; their capaility to operate against relatively high static pressures
ma#es them particularly suitale for that type of application. -owever, their inaility
to handle large volumes of air, and their characteristically high input horsepower
re&uirement limits their use to relatively small applications.
'll propeller type fans operate in accordance with common laws:
) The capacity varies directly as the speed ratio, and directly as the pitch angle of
the lades relative to the plane of rotation.
) The static pressure varies as the s&uare of the capacity ratio.
) The fan horsepower varies as the cue of the capacity ratio.
) 't constant capacity, the fan horsepower and static pressure vary directly with air
density.
KNOWLEDGE-BASED EXPERT SYSTEM:
' #nowledge)ased e(pert system can e defned as .an interactive computer
program that can solve prolems, ma#e decisions, analy"e, design, diagnose and
interpret, li#e an e(pert, within the conte(t of specifcally defned domains, y
drawing upon the factual and heuristic information that can e stored in their
#nowledge ases in relation to these domains/ 012. It is also defned as a program
that includes e(pertise or #nowledge that enales an individual or group to perform
an intellectual tas# etter than that tas# can e performed without that e(pertise.
The e(pertise can e encoded within a program as declarative #nowledge, which
represents truth as a state or as algorithms and can therefore e $ow)charted 032.
The asic structure of the #nowledge)ased e(pert system as shown in Figure 1
consists of the following components 042:
user interface: the mechanism y which the user and the system
communicate;
inference engine: ma#es inferences y deciding which rules are satisfed y
facts.
5nowledge ac&uisition facility: and automatic way for the user to enter
#nowledge in the system rather than y having the #nowledge engineer
e(plicitly code the #nowledge
5nowledge ase: contain the domain #nowledge in terms of rules.
Choosing the correct prolem and selecting the right tools are the most important
6and the most di+cult7 decisions in e(pert system development. 8ost of developed
tools are not specifc enough to handle a particular prolem. 9ince the type of tas#
to e performed y :te8 ;lade is structural selection 6a formative prolem7 it was
estalished that the developed environment tool should fulfl the following
conditions:
< =fectively perform the specifc functional tas#s re&uired y the user
< *rovide an efective control strategy
< *rovide acceptale response time
< *rovide a user)friendly interface
< *rovide e(planation facilities
< 'llow for #nowledge ase maintenance
Selection of an expet !"!te# !$ell
The selection of a suitale shell depends on matching the features of a particular
shell with the anticipated re&uirements of the developed product. 'ny review of the
literature on e(pert systems will show that there is a wide range of software
availale to provide a asis for development.
Ac$itect%e of co#p%tei&e' i#ple#entation:
=(pert system tools are useful in implementing e(pert systems, and the
ma,ority of them were developed to support rapid prototyping. The tool that chosen
to e employed in :Te8 ;lade is the >=?@'A!? e(pert system shell. >=?@'A!? is
a complete system with all the tools necessary for designing, developing, testing,
and delivering the fan lades selection. It consists of the following:
) The #nowledge ase that comprises the rules and o,ects that >=?@'A!? uses to
represent the domain. 's well as simple o,ects, the #nowledge ase stores o,ects
with frames that hold additional information such as screen designs and procedures.
) The >=?@'A!? editor gives the necessary facility to create rules as well as editing
information into o,ect frames.
) >=?@'A!? has the chec# and e(ecutes function that converts the raw #nowledge
ase to a format, which can e used y the computer.
) Aules that would wor# in the conte(t of >=?@'A!? are easy to understand, and
their construction is close to a normal =nglish sentence. 'n e(pert can add new
rules as heBshe learns aout a su,ect.
) >=?@'A!? has a uilt in e(planation facility, alternatively, the developer can
control the e(planation as heBshe li#es. The user can review the previous stages at
ant time during the consultation session. The user is free with >=?@'A!? to go
ac# one step or more, change the input and ac# again to the same screen.
) >=?@'A!? as an e(pert system is &uite diferent from conventional programs. '
conventional program will not wor# if a single line is removed from the source code.
The >=?@'A!? application will continue to wor# with rules missing. It simply
ecomes less smart.
O(eall i#ple#entation
In this stage, the #nowledge ase should e formali"ed as a set of rules. It
should represent a full description of the availale fan lades designs and
specifcation. There are >=?@'A!? graphics pac#age availale that can present the
#nowledge 6fan lades selection7 more attractive. The control of the e(planations
facility allows direct in&uiries from users 6C-D &uestion is eing as#ed7 and 6-?C
conclusion is drown7.
The displaying of the :Te8 Fan ;lades dataase contents should frst
introduce, the user enters the re&uirement of their fan lade and the system will
provide availale selection. The following are some e(amples of presenting
#nowledge using IF T-=@ rules using >=?@'A!?.
The following diagrams 1.1 E 1.4 shows some e(amples from the #nowledge
ase to illustrate the numer of lades, include types of fans.
Figure 1.1 displays a real rule written in >=?@'A!?. This rule will e fred when
user as#s information aout number of blades; the creation of the o,ect
type_of_fans, which displays its type, is accomplished.
Figure 1.1: Creating the o,ect type_of_fan to display the re&uired information aout
it.
;ut it is re&uired to fll the o,ect frame of type_of_fans y another rules that ma#e
the necessary control as shown in Figure 1.3.
If number_of_blade is done
and fan_diameter is done
then use screen_type_of_fan;
then number_of_blade is done
Name: type_of_fans
AllowedValue: number of blade
QueryPrompt: Which type of the fan you like to display?
AV!pansion:
" blade
# blade
$ustomi%ed number of blade &'#blades(
Figure 1.3: The o,ect frame of type_of_fans.
'ccordingly, the o,ect type_of_fans will e fred once the inference engine of
>=?@'A!? reaches line two in Figure 1.1, followed y a screen that should e fred
in line three in Figure 1.1, and contains diferent felds, each feld flled y its name
in the feld name as shown in the following Figure 1.4. The three #inds of fans are
displayed to the user, the screen contains a &uestion that as#ing user to choose one
of them to display, and a rief description will appear while the student moves
etween one to another.
Chich type of the fountain you li#e to displayF
TD*=9 ?F F'@9
G ;>'!=9 H ;>'!=9 IH
;>'!=9

8'T=AI'>9 8'T=AI'>9
8'T=AI'>9


FA*
**
';9
*>'9TIC
'>:8I@:8
'>>?D
J'>%'@I9=!
9T==>
FA*
**
';9
*>'9TIC
'>:8I@:8
'>>?D
J'>%'@I9=!
9T==>
FA*
**
';9
*>'9TIC
'>:8I@:8
'>>?D
J'>%'@I9=!
9T==>
Figure 1.4: 9creen typeKofKfans as it appears in >=?@'A!?.
EXPERT SYSTEM ALTERNAT)*E: KAPPA
'n o,ect)oriented system, #nown as 5appa)*C and designed to run under
8icrosoft Cindows on an I;8)*C. 5appa)*C is an o,ect)oriented e(pert
system shell written in C y IntelliCorp in the :nited 9tates 0L2. It can e
used to develop e(pert systems for any prolem that involve a selection from
among a numer of choices, for which a set of If)Then)=lse type rules can e
defned. The reasoning method or the inference mechanism of the shell
consists of oth forward chaining 6data)driven7 and ac#ward chaining 6goal)
driven7 strategies. 5nowledge 6or e(pertise7 in rule)ased e(pert systems is
asically represented y production rules. 5appa)*C also utilises production
rules, ut the main techni&ue of #nowledge representation is made y means
of o,ects. 5nowledge ases are uilt around these o,ects. 5appa)*C
o,ects, in the form of classes and instances, roaden the scope of
#nowledge representation. The o,ects dovetail nicely with its rule)ased
reasoning capailities. Aules represent decision process, while o,ects
represent the domain)specifc entities that the rules ma#e decisions aout
and operate on. This characteristic is the most signifcant distinction etween
a rules)only system li#e >eonardo and an o,ect)rules system li#e 5appa)*C;
the former models the reasoning process 6normally implemented y e(pert7,
while the latter models the o,ects of domain as well. In addition, 5appa)*CMs
functions and its 9ession Cindows provide useful additional user)friendly
capailities in controlling consultation sessions. 9ome commonly used
functions are uilt)in 5appa)*C while others are user)defned.
In 5appa)*C, the rule)ased control structures do ofer the user some
choices. It allows
the user decide when to apply the forward chaining and ac#ward chaining
strategies, and
even lets the user to specify rule priorities. This $e(iility is especially useful
when the
developer has developed a considerale numer of rules in various
categories with diferent
priorities. In 5appa)*C, #nowledge is codifed in the form of o,ects, rules,
goals and
functions. It provides a wide range of tools for constructing and using
applications.
D)S+,SS)ON AND +ON+L,S)ON:
This paper has descried a #nowledge)ased e(pert system approach
to a cooling tower fan selection system.
RE-EREN+ES:
012 ;eerel, '. C. 61NHO7, =(pert 9ystems: 9trategic Implications. -alsted
*ress, @ew Dor#.
032 Irahim, -. J. '. P ?ldham, !. Q. 61NNH7, 'n =(pert 9ystem For 'coustics
and @oise Control, Inter.@oise NH, Christchurch, @ew Realand.
042 Irahim, -. J. '. 63SSS7, The !evelopment of =nvironmental @oise
!ecision 9upport 9ystem, *h! Theses, 9chool of 'rchitecture and ;uilding
=ngineering, :niversity of >iverpool.
0L2 IntelliCorp, Kappa-PC Users Guide, %ersion 3.S, IntelliCorp, Inc., :9',
3SSG