At the recently concluded 2017 CTI Annual Conference in New Orleans, Brentwood’s own Angela Zaorski and Bill Miller presented a paper regarding their research into this topic.

The purpose of the research was to verify whether the “wire-frame” fills being introduced to the market are truly as fouling resistant as some people claim them to be and if there is a difference in fouling potential between different designs of wire-frame fills. 因为你可以透过这些产品看到它们一定能抵抗最恶劣的水条件，对吧？

There are many studies and papers that confirm the closer to vertical a film fill’s flute geometry gets, the more resistant to fouling the product will be due to the higher water velocities through the packs and the higher shear stresses that prevent biological colonies from thriving. For example, we see this with our offset-fluted fill, OF21MA, which has proven to be more fouling resistant than a thermally comparable, cross-fluted product – CF1900MA.

因此，考虑到这一点，我们做了我们最擅长的事情……测试！

First, we placed vertical offset modular splash packs (VOMSF) and cross-fluted trickle packs (CFTF) into our fouling chamber and performed a fouling test for 21 weeks where we monitored the microbes in the system and also maintained the TSS at 375ppm. There were multiple bays of each product that saw the same water quality, the same volume of water, the same suspended solids, and the same light, all for the same amount of time. 在21周期间连续记录体重。 The average results are displayed in the graph below and show that flute geometry definitely made a difference in the fills’ weight gain, with the cross-fluted trickle design gaining over 400% more than the vertical offset modular splash pack.

有了这些信息，我们可以确定，是的，笛子的几何形状和冷却模式确实在填充产品的结垢潜力中起着重要作用，就像竞博体育薄膜填充介质已经被反复证明的那样。

However, we didn’t stop there with testing. 让我们的研发同事们非常沮丧的是，他们喜欢拥有超干净的最新体育赛事资讯、实时赔率分析及在线投注平台，我们决定继续把污染的包装放入我们的热测试装置，看看污染会对产品的热性能产生什么影响。 这将使竞博体育所有者和操作人员更好地了解这种污垢对竞博体育性能的实际影响。

以下是一个标准的、现场安装的竞博体育的热运行的并排比较，用干净的产品建模，然后用污染的产品建模：

As you can see, the un-fouled, cross-fluted trickle fill provide slightly increased thermal performance when modeled in an “as-new” scenario. 然而，业主/运营商明白，在使用的第一天之后，包装将不可避免地开始发霉。 Under the same compromised water conditions, seeing the exact same water quality for the exact same amount of time, the tower utilizing the fouled, offset vertical splash pack lost only 2% thermal capability. In contrast, the tower modeled using the fouled, cross-fluted trickle pack 失去了惊人的18%的塔容量！ That can be devastating to a plant’s performance and profitability.

The obvious tradeoff is that an owner needs to be aware of the lifecycle cost associated with their fill selection and not necessarily the evaluation of the tower in an “as-new” state. 如果您正在考虑使用线框填充，那么您就知道您已经有相当多的水，并且正在寻找一种产品来减少污染对竞博体育长期运行的影响。

From Brentwood’s experience, cross-fluted trickle packs can just as easily plug when utilized with lake and river waters where muds, silts, and biologicals are a major component of the source waters, such as in one of the many photos we get from customers where products are mis-applied. These muds and silts get stuck to the biological growth being formed along the many strands and in the many “nooks and crannies” of this style product and grow upon themselves, causing plugging.

为了解决这种堵塞问题，所选择的产品应该包含更多的垂直凹槽几何形状，以防止生物附着，还应该包含飞溅或冲击传热模式，以防止沉积。  This will decrease fouling as compared to a cross fluted design that operates by trickling the water along it’s structural members with secondary dripping.

If the best selection for a compromised water application is a wire-frame product and long-term performance is important, then the research clearly shows that the more vertical-fluted products are indeed much more fouling resistant and will provide colder water for a lot longer time. 这与我们在胶片填充中看到的结果是一样的。

If you are interested in reading the full paper on this topic, you can purchase it from the CTI网站 for a nominal fee.