冷却塔、蒸发液体冷却器和蒸发冷凝器都是基本热交换器系列的成员。热量通过蒸发从重力排水的水膜中排出，进入流经冷却塔“填料”或流体冷却器和冷凝器管束的空气中。因此，空气侧传热和传质过程由相同的基本过程控制。每种类型理论的关键差异与工艺流体的热阻有关。冷却塔的阻力很小，但必须在流体冷却器和冷凝器中考虑。本文表明，“统一”的理论处理可应用于所有三种蒸发式换热器类型。讨论了计算传热传质阻力的具体方程或关联式。为了保持简单性，空气侧传热传质采用近似默克尔方程。 还指出了与默克尔方程相关的具体近似值。本文提出的理论为冷却塔、液体冷却器和蒸发式冷凝器的计算机模拟算法提供了基础。引文:研讨会，ASHRAE交易，1984年，第90卷，pt。密苏里州堪萨斯城2B

Cooling towers, evaporative fluid coolers and evaporative condensers are all members of a basic heat exchanger family. Heat is rejected by evaporation, from a gravity drained water film, into air flowing through a cooling tower "packing", or a tube bundle for fluid coolers and condensers. Hence, the air side heat and mass transfer process is governed by the same basic process. The key difference in the theory for each type relates to the thermal resistance of the process fluid. This resistance is quite small for cooling towers, but must be accounted for in the fluid cooler and condenser. This paper shows that a "unified" theoretical treatment may be applied to all three evaporative exchanger types. Specific equations or correlations for calculation of the heat and mass transfer resistance are discussed. In interest of preserving simplicity, the approximate Merkel equation is employed for the air side heat and mass transfer. The specific approximations associated with the Merkel equation are also noted. The theory presented in this paper provides the basis for computer simulation algorithms for cooling towers, fluid coolers and evaporative condensers.