In order to overcome the disadvantages of existing modeling methods of the complex evaporative cooling heat exchangers

a general modeling approach based on spatial scanning theory is proposed. In this approach

the 3-D heat exchanger is divided into calculation nodes according to its spatial location. Each node is regarded as a micro heat exchanger

and connected with each other through air

water/solution

and/or refrigerant. An iterative algorithm is developed based on conservation of energy and mass of nodes in steady flow and steady-state heat transfer. Finally

the model is verified by comparing the simulated results and the experimental results of two closed-type wet cooling towers. Results show that the proposed model is highly accurate and reliable. This model can be used to simulate the performance of the evaporative cooling heat exchanger with complicated configurations and flow under different modes.