Patent ID: 8622372

Claim:
A hybrid cooling tower apparatus that extends along a vertical axis, comprising: a cooling tower; a wet heat exchanger disposed within the cooling tower, the wet heat exchanger comprising: an evaporative heat transfer media; and a water distribution assembly disposed above the evaporative heat transfer media, the water distribution assembly being configured to distribute water on the evaporative heat transfer media; an air delivery housing having an inlet and a first outlet, the first outlet being in fluid communication with the wet heat exchanger, wherein a flow of air passing through the first outlet is directed to flow up through the wet heat exchanger and out the cooling tower, wherein said air delivery housing includes a base and opposing side walls that each extend along respective planes that are parallel to the vertical axis and the opposing side walls each extend away from said base; a dry heat exchanger housing disposed in said air delivery housing, wherein said dry heat exchanger housing extends at least partially across the inlet, the dry heat exchanger housing comprising: a dry heat exchanger; and a dry heat outlet in fluid communication with the cooling tower that is relatively above the wet heat exchanger, wherein air flowing through the dry heat exchanger bypasses the wet heat exchanger; and an air current generator positioned in a plane normal to the vertical axis and oriented to direct an air stream toward the base and through said dry heat exchanger and said wet heat exchanger.