Client: A key thermal power plant and Chinese-funded energy construction base in Cambodia

Country: Cambodia

Equipment Model: high-efficiency closed-circuit cooling tower

Media: Water

Quantity: 5 units

Project Description

Five high-efficiency closed-circuit cooling towers were installed to power the generator units of a key national power plant in Cambodia for precise temperature control of the core turbine auxiliary equipment and critical power equipment. Addressing the characteristics of the local climate—constantly hot and humid, prone to flooding during the rainy season, and the power plant's 24/7 high-load operation—the project employed closed-loop dual-circulation heat exchange technology and a high-grade corrosion-resistant reinforced structure, achieving zero-pollution continuous cooling and ensuring a green and stable power supply to the Cambodian power grid.

Recommended Standardized Case Name: Uninterrupted Operation Delivery of 5 Closed-Circuit Cooling Towers for Auxiliary Equipment Systems in a Southeast Asian Tropical Hot and Humid Climate Power Plant

Situation

Cambodia is located in the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula and has a typical tropical monsoon climate with distinct dry and rainy seasons. It experiences consistently high temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius and faces extreme humidity and frequent heavy rainfall during the rainy season. Electricity is the foundation of Cambodia's national industrial development. As a core power supply node in the region, this power plant's auxiliary equipment, such as turbine bearings, transformers, and excitation systems, generates enormous and continuous heat during power generation, requiring uninterrupted cooling. The surface water surrounding the power plant typically contains many impurities and has high hardness. If traditional open cooling towers are used directly, the high-temperature return water, in the rainy, humid, and dusty environment, is highly susceptible to severe scaling and biofilm formation in the small cooling water channels of the generator units. This can lead to pipe blockage, a sharp drop in heat exchange efficiency, and even power outages.

Task

The core task of this project is to ensure the absolute safety and continuous operation of the cooling system of the power plant's core units in the extreme heat and humidity of the tropics.

24/7 Stable Production Guarantee: As the lifeline equipment of the power plant, the five cooling towers must have 100% continuous operational reliability. Any unplanned shutdown of a single unit could cause fluctuations in the regional power grid.

Extreme High-Temperature and Humid Heat Exchange: Under the harsh conditions of Cambodian summers with extremely high temperatures and humidity (where the air's ability to absorb moisture and dissipate heat is significantly reduced), the equipment must possess extremely strong active spray evaporation capabilities to withstand high heat loads.

Resisting Humid and Hot Corrosion: The power plant environment is characterized by complex industrial gases, coupled with Cambodia's long, humid rainy season, requiring equipment structures to possess superior weather resistance and acid rain corrosion resistance.

Standardized Action

The Shandong Kaisen Heat Transfer Solutions expert team conducted an in-depth analysis of the thermal characteristics of tropical power plants and tailored a modular group control solution for five high-efficiency closed-loop cooling towers:

• Fully Closed-Loop Process Water Circulation Design: The generator set's cooling water circulates in a closed loop within Kaisen's high thermal conductivity seamless heat exchange tube bundles, achieving 100% physical isolation from external rainwater, airborne dust, and impurities. This fundamentally eliminates the risk of scaling and corrosion in the internal piping of the power generation equipment, protecting core power assets.

• Customized for rain and heavy corrosion protection: The outer casing is made of thickened special aluminized zinc plate or stainless steel, equipped with a top-grade anti-UV and anti-corrosion coating; the fan area and motor box on the top of the equipment are designed with high-specification rainproof and floodproof structures (protection level of IP55 or above), ensuring safe full-load operation even under tropical rainstorms.

• Spray system and low-resistance, high-efficiency design: Addressing the slow heat exchange characteristics of humid and hot air, the nozzle arrangement of the spray pipes has been optimized to ensure uniform water film coverage on the tube bundle surface; high-volume, high-efficiency variable frequency axial flow fans are selected to accelerate heat dissipation through forced convection.

Intelligent multi-unit linkage and redundant group control: The five units are modularly arranged in parallel and connected to the power plant's central control system. The system automatically switches the number of operating units and adjusts the fan frequency based on real-time changes in the power plant's generating load and ambient temperature during dry and rainy seasons, providing extremely high safety redundancy and avoiding unnecessary energy waste during low loads.

Key Achievements

Five high-efficiency closed-loop cooling towers were successfully connected to the grid and put into operation at a power plant in Cambodia, achieving excellent demonstration effects:

• Strengthening the power plant's safety lifeline: Since commissioning, the five closed-loop cooling towers have successfully withstood Cambodia's months-long extreme high temperatures and torrential rains, achieving continuous and stable 24/7 operation, with 100% compliance of the core unit's temperature control indicators.

• The "zero scaling" miracle of the core unit: The water quality in the generator auxiliary system's pipelines has remained consistently clean, completely eliminating the significant economic losses caused by reduced heat exchange efficiency and downtime for scaling removal previously caused by scaling.

• Outstanding green overall energy efficiency: Thanks to the adoption of highly automated variable frequency regulation and closed-loop circulation technology, the system's drift rate has been reduced to an extremely low level. Compared to similar open systems, it achieves over 25% water savings and significantly reduces overall power consumption, becoming a benchmark case for green and low-carbon industrial upgrading in Cambodia.

SMART Metrics

Successfully delivered 5 high-efficiency closed-loop cooling towers, achieving 24/7 uninterrupted grid connection.

Scaling downtime rate of power plant generator auxiliary systems: 0%.

Perfectly withstands tropical monsoon rainstorms and extreme heat and humidity.

Comprehensive water saving rate compared to traditional heat exchange solutions: Greater than 25%.

High power load guarantee rate throughout the system's lifecycle: 100%.

Reusability Takeaways

Cooling technology for high-risk continuous production lines in power and energy sectors: Provides a highly redundant and reliable closed-loop cooling solution for core industrial and power projects where downtime is not an option. 

Tropical monsoon climate rainstorm and heavy corrosion resistant design: Standard engineering parameters have been developed for rainproof motors, moisture-resistant and corrosion-resistant housings, and efficient humid heat transfer calculations.

Modular parallel intelligent power efficiency management: The multi-unit parallel group control mode can be perfectly replicated to other large-scale manufacturing and energy bases with high flow rates and continuous operation.