Cooling tower fill assembly

Cooling tower splash fill strips rest in grids made from interconnected vertical and horizontal wire strands. Each grid is supported at its upper end by a fill hanger beam, which, in turn, is supported by a series of aligned beam hanger clips. The clips are connected to generally horizontal structural members of the cooling tower.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to the splash fill of mechanical or natural draft 
water cooling towers of the crossflow and counterflow types, and more 
particularly to improvements in the way such fill is supported in a 
lattice of interconnected wire strands. 
In liquid cooling towers the splash fill is commonly supported by a series 
of wire grids suspended from internal structural components. Such wire 
grids have been connected to the supporting structure by nailing them to 
posts, by looping them over notched wooden beams, and by suspending them 
from hooks. These prior arrangements have disadvantages such as wasting 
materials, requiring excessive field labor, or increasing the resistance 
to air flow. Also, they often lack durability because of attack by 
corrosion or fungus, or they had to be assembled and fitted into place at 
dangerous heights. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved support 
for the splash fill in liquid cooling towers. 
Another object is to reduce the amount of fill hanger grid wire used to 
support cooling tower splash fill strips. 
Another object is to support splash fill without having to put notches or 
holes in beams. 
Another object is to increase the distance between the fasteners securing 
fill hanger grids to structural supports. 
Another object is to support splash fill without having to notch and cut 
out wire panels to fit around tower structure. 
Another object is to support splash fill with continuous one piece wire 
panels in place of multiple panels formerly required to fit around tower 
structure. 
Another object is to more uniformly distribute the load on the upper 
horizontal supporting strand of a cooling tower fill hanger wire grid. 
Another object is to provide a safer way of supporting cooling tower fill 
by reducing the time spent by workers at elevated levels. 
Another object is to provide a fill arrangement that can be partially or 
completely assembled at ground level, then raised to the proper height and 
slid horizontally into its supports. 
Another object is to provide a rugged, relatively low cost, easily erected 
liquid cooling tower fill assembly that has minimal air resistance and 
which does not possess defects found in similar prior art fill support 
arrangements. 
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the 
specification and claims, and the scope of the invention will be pointed 
out in the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The drawing shows a portion of a conventional cross flow mechanical draft 
cooling tower 10 in which water to be cooled is pumped into an upper hot 
water distribution pan 11 and then flows downwardly through holes or 
nozzles 12. The water flows through and over conventional splash fill 
strips 13 held in a fill support assembly 15 in accord with this 
invention. Air is drawn through the splash fill and falling water by a 
rotatable fan 16 in stack 17, and the cooled water is pumped from a 
collection basin below the fill in conventional manner. 
The weight of the cooling tower components and the liquid being cooled is 
supported by numerous generally vertically extending wooden or concrete 
column means such as tower posts 19, louver support posts 20, and drift 
eliminator support posts 21. Generally horizontal structural members such 
as wooden ties 22 and 23 interconnect the various posts and columns. 
A plurality of unitary beam hanger clips 25 stamped from metal are spaced 
at predetermined intervals along some of the horizontal ties. Each clip 
has an upper support arm 26 and an integral downwardly extending body 
portion 27. The lowest terminal edge of each body portion has a notch 29 
centered in it. Each notch 29 defines an upwardly extending slot 30 which 
merges into a semicircular opening 31. Each opening 31 terminates in a 
pair of identical generally horizontal, upwardly facing shelves 32 aligned 
on opposite sides of the slot 30. Each shelf 32 includes a generally 
horizontal tab 33 of metal bent so that it is normal to the plane of the 
lower part of its body portion 27. A downwardly extending perpendicular 
rib 34 connects each tab 33 to its body portion, and the ribs 34 facing 
each other on opposite sides of each slot 30 increase the depth of such 
slot. Each arm 26 has a portion punched downwardly at right angles to 
provide an integral spike 35 that can be pressed or hammered into a tie 22 
so as to immobilize clip 25. 
Most clips 25 have a downwardly extending flange 37 at the end of arm 26 
opposite to body portion 27 for hooking over a tie member 22 or 23. Flange 
37 resiliently grips the tie member because the distance separating the 
innermost edge of the flange from body portion 27 is less than the 
thickness of the tie member, which flexes flange 37 outwardly. At some 
locations in tower 10, ties may be spliced to each other or some other 
structural member or connection may produce an area that is too wide for 
an arm 37 to hook over a tie at the proper place. In such locations a clip 
25 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 may be employed. There is no downwardly 
extending flange on the arm 26 of such clips, and as shown in FIG. 2 the 
clips are secured to a tie or other horizontal structural member by nails 
39 which pass through the holes 38 in arm 26. 
Ties 23 are attached to louver support posts 20 or other structural columns 
which are generally but not exactly vertical. This causes the body 
portions of the clips 25 connected to ties 23 to extend at an angle to the 
vertical. Since it is necessary for the slots 30 and the openings 31 in 
clips 25 to be essentially vertical, in FIGS. 7 and 8 the lower part 40 of 
body portion 27, which includes slot 30 and opening 31, lies in a plane 
which makes an obtuse angle of about 100.degree. with arm 26. This 
compensates for misalignment that would be caused by the deviation of 
louver columns 20 from the vertical. Thus a clip as shown in FIG. 8 would 
only be used when a splice or other joint that widens the tie occurs on a 
horizontal member supported by a column that is not exactly vertical. 
Clips 25 may have additional holes for nails or other fasteners, and 
reinforcing ribs 41 are used where needed. 
The clips 25 on adjacent ties 22 and 23 are generally aligned in series as 
shown in FIG. 1. This results in the notches 29 of the clips in each 
series being generally aligned so that each series of notches can receive 
and support a generally horizontally extending fill hanger beam 42. Each 
beam 42 is an identical unitary, hollow, fiberglas-reinforced, plastic 
pultrusion having an enlarged upper end 43. The uppermost surface of end 
43 defines a first semicircular arc 44. Each end of arc 44 terminates in a 
generally horizontal, inwardly extending, downwardly facing shoulder 45. 
Each shoulder 45 is supported on the transversely aligned shelves 32 of a 
series of aligned clips 25. A screw 47 may be inserted through hole 48 in 
a protrusion 50 punched so as to project from the body portion 27 of each 
clip 25 on the side opposite arm 26. Screw 47 is threaded into end 43 to 
prevent beam 42 from sliding out of aligned notches 29. One screw 47 is 
all that is ordinarily required to anchor each beam 42. 
A passage 52 extends upwardly from the center of the lowermost terminal 
edge of each beam 42 and passes completely through each beam. Each passage 
52 defines a generally vertically extending slit 53 which merges into an 
enlarged opening 54 at the interior of the beam. Opening 54 defines a 
second semicircular arc 55 which is concentric with first arc 44. Arc 55 
terminates in a pair of identical generally horizontal ledges 57 aligned 
on opposite sides of slit 53. An elongated flange 58 extends downwardly 
from each ledge 57, and flanges 58 face each other on opposite sides of 
slit 53. Each flange 58 terminates in an enlarged lip 59. Lips 59 extend 
the full length of beam 42 at the entrance to slit 53. 
Fill strips 13 rest on the generally horizontal and parallel wire strands 
60 of fill hanger grids 61. Strands 60 are welded to generally vertical 
and parallel wire strands 62 so as to form a generally 
parallelogram-shaped lattice of holes. An enlargement, such as a pair of 
horizontal wire strands 63 welded in the same plane to opposite sides of 
vertical strands 62, is attached to the upper end of each grid 61. The 
enlarged upper end of each grid 61 is passed horizontally through the 
opening 54 in a beam 42 and each strand 63 of the uppermost pairs rests on 
one of the ledges 57. Strands 62 extend downwardly from the enlarged upper 
end through the slit 52 in beam 42 and the slots 30 in the clips 25 
supporting such beam. The holes in adjacent grids 61 are generally aligned 
so that fill strips 13 can be slid horizontally into place through them. 
The bottom end of each grid 61 can be held in place by looping a piece 64 
of wire or rope around the lowermost strand 60 of such grid and the beam 
42 of the next lower fill assembly. This can also be accomplished by using 
a staple or a hook nail fastened to the next lower tie or cross member. 
It has thus been shown that by the practice of this invention the splash 
fill 13 of a cooling tower 10 can be supported in a way that does not 
require hanger grids 61 to extend up to or beyond the supporting 
structural members. Yet the weight of the fill and grids 61 is uniformly 
distributed to beam 43 by a pair of uppermost strands 63; this prevents 
the stress concentrations and grid strand failure that occur when such 
grids are suspended directly from hooks. It is possible to align several 
grids 61 at ground level, slide fill strips 13 into place, attach a beam 
43 to each such grid, and raise the resulting rectangular fill assembly as 
a single unit to the elevation of the series of aligned clips 25; then 
beams 43 would be slid horizontally through aligned openings 31 until the 
assembly is properly located, and finally a screw 47 would be threaded 
into the outer end of each beam. This would reduce to a minimum the time 
that workers have to spend at dangerous heights. 
While the present invention has been described with reference to a 
particular embodiment, it is not intended to illustrate or describe herein 
all of the equivalent forms or ramifications thereof. Also, the words used 
are words of description rather than limitation, and various changes may 
be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention 
disclosed herein. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such 
changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.