Cooling system

Claim 1

A cooling system for circulating a fluid through a heat exchanger comprising: a primary vertical surge column to receive fluid to be circulated and deliver the fluid to a heat exchanger; an auxiliary vertical surge column being positioned in substantially parallel relationship to said primary column; a first conduit coupling said primary column to said auxiliary column at upper levels thereof to supply fluid to said auxiliary column when the fluid level in said primary column reaches said upper level; a second conduit coupling said primary column to said auxiliary column at lower levels thereof; said second conduit including control means solely permitting flow from said auxiliary column to said primary column when the level of fluid in said auxiliary column exceeds the level of fluid in said primary column; cooling means adapted to be coupled to a heat exchanger means to reduce the heat level of a circulating fluid; said cooling means being in fluid communication with said primary column to supply circulating fluid thereto, said cooling means being mounted on top of said primary column for sole support of said cooling means, a fluid distributor located in an upper section of said cooling means for passing said circulating fluid downwardly, an air blower located in a lower section of said cooling means for passing cooling air upwardly, corrugated fluid-air contact sheets located in a middle section between said fluid distributor and said air blower for providing a contact surface area for contacting said downwardly flowing circulating fluid and said upwardly flowing cooling air, and circulating means operatively coupled to the primary column to deliver circulating fluid to a heat exchanger and return the fluid to said cooling means.