There are several different materials that cooling tower structural components can be manufactured with, such as concrete, galvanized or stainless steel, wood or fiberglass. In recent years, fiberglass is becoming a more popular choice because of its range of benefits. This blog post will provide an overview of what components in a cooling tower can be fabricated with fiberglass and the benefits it provides.

What Are Cooling Towers?

A cooling tower is a device that removes heat from a building by combining air and water together in the chamber to lower the water temperature. As a specialized heat exchanger, this piece of equipment is used in industrial plants to cool the water that is heated up during industrial processes. The process of cooling towers is relatively simple. Heated water is pumped through pipes into the cooling tower and is sprayed out via a nozzle. Using the nozzle to disperse the water allows as much air as possible to connect with the water, causing some of the water to evaporate and cool the remaining water down. Once the water has been cooled, it is transferred back into the industrial equipment and the cycle continues. 

Structural Components of Cooling Towers

Cooling towers contain up to 40 components. Some main pieces include a cold water basin, fans and a fan deck, a filtration system, pipes, a distribution system with nozzles, drift eliminators, valves and air intake louvers1. Many cooling tower components can be made with composite materials such as fiberglass because they provide high strength while being a structurally light material.

Structural components of a cooling system made from fiberglass include the main body parts and the external casing. Fiberglass is also used to manufacture some or all of the fan, fan deck, grating, platforms, structural shapes and walkways. In the following section, we look at why fiberglass is a reliable and respected material for these components. 

Strongwell’s Fiberglass Structural Components 

Strongwell has been manufacturing fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) products of the highest quality since 1956 and is recognized as a global leader in pultruded FRP. One of our core products includes fiberglass structural components that offer outstanding strength and corrosion and weather resistance. In addition to our EXTREN® structural shapes and plate, our structural components are available under the COMPOSOLITE® and DURASHIELD HC® ranges, each of which has several suitable applications, including cooling towers.

COMPOSOLITE®

Strongwell’s COMPOSOLITE® is a system of interlocking components made of FRP through pultrusion. An advanced building panel system is an ideal solution for load-bearing structural applications. COMPOSOLITE® panels can be connected in two ways: by 3-way or 45-degree connectors, making it easy to use components around corners and support walls. 

DURASHIELD HC®

DURASHIELD HC® is a fiberglass pultruded panel with a hollow core. They are typically used in applications where insulation is not required, but high strength and stiffness are. Common uses for the DURASHIELD HC® components include cooling tower partition walls, decking and enclosures because they are easy to install and will not rot or rust.

The benefits of our COMPOSOLITE® and DURASHIELD HC® components include the following:

• Cost-effective
• Easy to install
• High strength
• Lightweight
• Low maintenance
• Resistant to chemicals, corrosion, rot and weathering

Contact us today for more information about constructing cooling tower components with pultruded fiberglass.