In this article, we explore:
The purpose of drift eliminators in evaporative cooling systems, including how they capture water droplets, prevent moisture carryover, and protect downstream equipment. It also discusses when drift eliminators should be used and the factors to consider when selecting a solution for high-velocity applications.
What are drift eliminators?
Learn what drift eliminators are and why they are a critical component in evaporative cooling systems that operate at high air velocities.
How do drift eliminators work?
Understand how specially designed media captures water droplets from the airstream and returns them to the system before they can escape.
Why moisture carryover matters
Discover how reducing water carryover helps prevent corrosion, scaling, and damage to downstream equipment and surrounding areas.
Drift Eliminators: What They Are and Why They Matter
Drift eliminators play a critical role in your cooling or humidification system. The main purpose of drift eliminator media is to reduce impact to downstream components that can be damaged over time by uncaptured droplets. To help you achieve these benefits for your operation, our engineers developed the Kuul FirePro DE, the drift eliminator that integrates seamlessly into your cooling systems.
To help you better understand the importance of addressing drift, also referred to as mist, in your cooling systems, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide covering the benefits, the potential impact on your business, explaining how drift eliminators work, and answering key questions to help you make an informed decision.
What is drift?
Drift is essentially liquid entrainment. It occurs when the velocity of air moving through cooling media is so high that water droplets come off the surface of the cooling media and are introduced into the airstream.
As high-velocity evaporative cooling systems work to keep temperatures down and help you maintain high levels of performance, escaping water droplets can be produced in certain circumstances. If left unchecked, this can negatively impact your equipment, operations, and the surrounding environment.
How Drift Eliminators Work
While high air velocity through a cooling system can create drift, many systems still require it to meet cooling and airflow demands. This is where drift eliminators come into place.
Drift eliminators serve as a second set of media that is positioned behind the evaporative cooling media to capture escaped droplets. Any liquid droplets that come off the cooling media encounter the drift eliminators and are either absorbed into the drift eliminator and then re-evaporated or travel down the drift eliminator and are drained out of the system.
By installing drift or mist eliminators (also called droplet separators) into your system, you effectively capture those droplets, eliminating drift, which allows you to increase maximum air speed without the risk of long-term equipment damage.
Download Condair's Complete Product Catalog
The Condair Product Catalog provides a comprehensive overview of our full range of commercial and industrial humidity control solutions, including humidifiers, dehumidifiers, evaporative cooling systems, and replacement media.
Designed to support engineers, facility managers, and building owners, the catalog brings together key product details to help you select the right solution for your environment.
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