Process for cooling liquids by cross current contact with gases

Claim 1

A process for cooling water by cross flow contact with air comprising the steps of: passing said water downwardly into a contacting zone enclosure in the shape of an inverted, frustoconical annulus at a rate of from 3 to 30 gallons per minute, per square foot of contacting zone normal to the direction of flow of water, said enclosure being completely filled with a filamentous packing having little continuous extensive surface, and having about 80-95 percent free volume, said packing consisting of randomly arranged, interlocked tower packing units, the units being made up of approximAtely circular, integrally connected filament portions having their axes approximately tangent to a circle at approximately evenly spaced points therearound, the number of such spaced approximately circular portions being from 6 to 12 and the diameter of such circle being approximately equal to the diameter of one of such approximately circular filament portions plus the diameter of a smaller circle whose circumference is not less than the croos-sectional dimension of the filament portion in the direction of its axis times the number of such filament portions and not greater than the circumference of one of such approximately circular filament portions; drawing air through ports in the outer side of said contacting enclosure, through said packing and through ports in the inner wall of said enclosure by means of a fan mounted centrally within the circle defined by said annular enclosure, at a rate of from 200 to 800 standard cubic feet per minute, per square foot of packed zone normal to the direction of flow of gas so as to realize a pressure drop, in the air, per foot of packing parallel to the direction of flow of said air, of from 0.2 to 0.8 inches of water; expelling the air drawn through said contactIng zone from within the area central thereto; and removing cooled water from the lower end of said contacting enclosure.