Cooling apparatus

A liquid cooling apparatus having a multi-level terraced structure capped by a central cooling tower. The central cooling tower has one or more non-clogging liquid spray nozzles mounted therein for spraying the liquid in the tower while compressed air is fed into the bottom of the tower into the sprayed liquid. The liquid collects on the terraced structure which has a plurality of channels formed therein having baffles mounted to break up the flow of water as it passes over each level of the terraced structure. Flow paths on the terraced structure may also have rocks placed along the channels between the baffling members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to liquid cooling devices and especially to 
cooling towers adapted to cool and aerate large volumes of water. 
In the past, various types of liquid cooling towers have been used for heat 
exchangers for cooling the liquid which has been heated in industrial 
processes, such as in air conditioning equipment. Such cooling towers 
typically utilize water which is fed to the top of a tower and allowed to 
fall through the tower where it may be broken up so as to cool the water 
by the water/air contact with the ambient air passing through the tower. 
A typical prior art cooling tower can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 2,606,008 to 
Laubach. A more recent cooling system can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 
3,864,442 in which a tower is mounted over a liquid reservoir, and in 
which a conduit discharges a liquid through a discharge nozzle to provide 
a downward spray of the cooling water which precipitates into a reservoir. 
Contra air flow is induced through the cooling water to assist in the 
cooling, and baffle plates are located in the reservoir to direct the 
cooling water over conduits of the heat exchanger. 
The present invention, on the other hand, sprays a cooling liquid into a 
cooling tower through a special nonclogging spray nozzle for producing a 
better atomization of the liquid and utilizes forced air both against the 
collected liquid and passing through the tower. The tower forms only one 
part of the cooling system which is mounted on a terraced structure to 
increase the cooling operation of the liquid as it trickles over the 
terraced structure along grooves having baffles or retarders and rocks 
thereon. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A liquid cooling system having a multi-level terraced structure forming a 
plurality of liquid flow paths over each level of the structure, with each 
grooved flow path on each level having baffling thereon, and also being 
adapted for rocks to break up the flow of the liquid. A central tower is 
mounted on top of the top level of the terraced structure, which tower has 
an open top but closed sides, and one or more non-clogging spray nozzles 
mounted therein to spray liquids being cooled into the tower. Cooling air 
is forced under pressure through pipes opening in the bottom of the 
cooling tower into cones which direct the forced air against liquid 
collectng on the bottom of the cooling tower where the air is then 
directed up through the cooling tower contra to the falling spray and out 
the top of the cooling tower. The liquid spray nozzles include a rapidly 
spinning deflector member having vanes thereon for spraying and breaking 
up the liquid being sprayed in the tower.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the drawings, and especially to FIGS. 1 through 6, a cooling 
system 10 can be seen to have a terraced base structure 11 and a cooling 
tower 12 mounted on top of the base structure 11. The structure 11 may 
typically be a concrete structure having a series of terraced levels 13 
each having a plurality of grooved liquid paths 14 formed in the shape of 
a series of elongated Vs, forming an accordionlike structure. The terraced 
structure 11 can be set in a reservoir 15 of liquid if desired or can be 
collected and directed off to a separate reservoir. In operation, the 
liquid is sprayed in the cooling tower 12 and collects on the uppermost 
terrace 13 and follows the flow paths 14 as it moves from one terrace to 
the next. The grooved liquid flow paths 14 may have baffles or retarders, 
as shown in FIG. 8 to break up the flow of water, and may include rocks 
thereon, as also shown in FIG. 8. The cooling system advantageously not 
only cools the liquid, but aerates and treats it much like a trickle 
filter in a sewage treatment system flowing around a large number of 
baffles and rocks. 
The cooling tower 12 has outside wall 16 and a roof section 17, having a 
plurality of slotted openings 18 and a plurality of slotted openings 20. 
Inside the walls 16, the interior surface may be formed of a plurality of 
V-shaped grooves 21 which may have an inwardly angled V-grooved wall 22 on 
the bottom portion of the tower 12 for directing liquid that is thrown 
against the walls toward the bottom of the tower. A liquid input line 23 
directs liquid to be cooled through the structure 11 into the tower 12, 
which pipe is supported by lower support bracket 24 and upper support 
bracket 25. A non-clogging liquid distribution nozzle 26 is mounted on the 
end of the pipe 23, which nozzle may be supported by nozzle support 
bracket 27 attached to the side 16. The nozzle and support bracket may be 
more clearly seen in FIG. 3, in which the pipe 23 has a spinning nozzle 
element 28 having a shaft 30 which fits into the pipe end 31 of the water 
pipe 23 and has a plurality of curved vanes 32 thereon and a top 
supporting member 33. The top support 33 is of a generally pointed shape 
with a curved tip and is positioned inside of a sleeve 34. Sleeve 34 has a 
plurality of holes 35 passing therethrough and is attached to base bracket 
member 36 which in turn is bolted with a bolt 37 to a bracket member 38 
connected to an arm 40 which in turn is connected to a bracket 41 which is 
attached to the sides 16 of the cooling tower. The sleeve 34 has a 
weighted rod 42 having a plurality of openings 43 passing therethrough and 
has a cone shaped opening 44. The bar member 42 rides in the sleeve 34 so 
that the cone 44 engages the tip 33 of the spray nozzle 28, thereby 
centering the spray nozzle 28. A pin 45 may be passed through the openings 
35 of the sleeve 34 and through the openings 43 of the rod 42 to position 
the rod 42 in the sleeve 34 for predetermined adjustments for holding the 
rotating nozzle member 28. In addition, the sleeves 34 may be enlarged 
openings with sufficient slack to vary the pressure applied against the 
tip 33 of the nozzle member 28. 
Liquid passing out of the pipe 23 is directed against the vanes 32 spinning 
the vanes 32 which spray water similar to certain types of lawn and 
irrigation sprinkler systems except that the head is designed to 
distribute a very fine spray of liquid adjusted for the pressure being 
applied to the liquid leaving the pipe 23. When liquid is not flowing out 
of the pipe 23, an angled support 46 on the shaft 30 is shaped to be 
supported by the lip 31 of the pipe 23. The raising of the spray nozzle 28 
when water under pressure is applied thereagainst along with the 
simultaneous spinning prevents clogging in the nozzle head. The discharge 
sprinkler member 28 is centered by the connection between the point 33 and 
the cone 44 and the rod 42 and by the gyroscopic action of the spinning. 
The sprayed liquid falls in the tower 12 except for small portions that 
may be thrown against the interior surface 21 of the walls 16, which will 
flow down the grooved walls. 
A plurality of air lines 47 have cone-shaped heads 48 mounted to the ends 
50 thereof and pass through a bottom member 51 of the cooling tower 12. 
The air under pressure is fed, as shown in FIG. 6, out the line 47 
directed into the cones 48 downwardly towards the water accumulating on 
the bottom 51 of the cooling tower 12 and adjacent rocks 52 located on the 
bottom of the cooling tower 12. The air is then directed upward within the 
enclosed walls 16 contra to the flow of the sprayed water from the spray 
nozzle 26. The flowing air not only cools the finely divided water 
particles, but aerates the water as well. The air under pressure is 
directed out the openings 18 and 20 of the roof section 17. 
The cooled liquid from cooling tower 12, which collects on the bottom of 
the cooling tower, then flows out along the top level of the terraced 
structure through the V-shaped grooved liquid flow paths, and from one 
terraced level to the next, and then back into a central reservoir. In 
FIG. 8, an alternate embodiment of the grooves 14 has a plurality of 
alternately spaced baffles 52 are spaced against one inverted V wall 54 on 
one side and on the wall 55 on the other side. A plurality of rocks 56 can 
be interspaced between the baffles 53 to break up the flow path and to 
treat the water as it flows over the terraced structure. FIG. 7 shows an 
alternate rotating water nozzle element 57 having a shaft 58, an angled 
support 60, a pointed upper support 61 and a pair of curved vanes 62 which 
curved vanes have an arcuate curve 63 and are angled along their walls 64 
for distribution of the liquid leaving inlet liquid pipe 23. 
It should be clear at this point that a cooling system has been provided 
which both cools and treats liquids, such as water, but it should also be 
clear that other liquids could be cooled and treated in a similar manner 
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, 
the present invention is not to be construed as limited to the forms 
shown, which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.