Cooling tower with forced ventilation and natural draft

Claim 1

Cooling tower for cooling by concurrent cooling with both natural draft and blower draft, by cooling solely with natural draft or by cooling solely with blower draft, (a) having an outer peripheral wall provided with blowers spaced about the periphery thereof at a lower region thereof, (b) the blowers being formed with annular inlet openings for cooling air, (c) the cooling tower further comprising means defining closable openings for cooling with natural draft disposed between the annular inlet openings, (d) the closable openings shaped to surround the annular inlet openings and to form the peripheral wall of the cooling tower as a peripheral ring in the region of the annular inlet openings, and (e) deflecting inserts mounted within the cooling tower wall between the annular inlet openings and said means defining said closable openings, said deflecting inserts projecting into the interior of the cooling tower for guiding the flows of coolant air through the annular openings and through said closable openings independently of one another for a given distance into the cooling tower whereby the flow of cooling air through the annular openings is prevented from mixing with the flow of cooling air through said closable openings directly behind said closable openings, thereby permitting concurrent cooling with blower draft air flowing through the annular inlet openings and with natural draft air flowing through the closable openings.