A support beam for a cooling tower fill assembly includes a web, an upper flange, a lower flange, and a lip. The web has a serpentine shape so a lower end of the web is vertically offset relative to an upper end. The upper flange extends from a first side of the web at the upper end thereof. The lower flange has a first portion extending from the first side at the lower end thereof and a second portion extending from a second side at the lower end thereof. The lip extends upwardly from the second portion so the lip cooperates with the second portion and a portion of the web to form a longitudinal channel. The lip and the second portion are provided with a plurality of spaced apart notches.

A water collection system is provided for an indirect evaporative cooler. The water collection system includes a housing having an open bottom, a front wall, a back wall, and two end walls, which together define an interior region of the housing. The water collection system further includes a plurality of tube assemblies each extending through one of the front wall and the back wall of the housing and disposed within the interior region of the housing. The water collection system further includes a plurality of panel assemblies disposed within the interior region of the housing above the plurality of tube assemblies. Each panel assembly is associated with a respective tube assembly to channel fluid to the tube assembly. A method of collecting and distributing water within an indirect evaporative cooler configured to spray water on a heat exchanger is further disclosed.

The support (18) for a supporting beam (14) of a cooling tower (10) for supporting installation packages (20) of grid or foil mats (22) for cooling a useful fluid, such as water vapor, by a working fluid, such as sprayed water, is provided with a grid plate (16) having a top side for supporting installation packages (20) and having a bottom side, wherein the grid plate (16) comprises protruding encompassing projections (28) on its bottom side with an intermediate space therebetween to receive a supporting beam (14), with the encompassing projections (28) arranged on both sides of the supporting beam (14).

A splash fill arrangement for use in a direct heat exchange section of a cooling tower is provided. Each splash fill arrangement includes support plates and elongated bars extending there between, which arrangement improves the performance of the splash fill arrangement when installed as a direct heat exchange section of a cooling tower. Certain of the elongated bars between the support plates are angled from the horizontal to improve the air flow capabilities and performance of the direct heat exchange section.

A hybrid wet/dry cooling tower and novel splash fill material are provided. In one embodiment, the cooling tower includes a wet cooling section having a draft fan disposed above the wet section for drawing air through the wet section to cool liquid traversing the wet section. The cooling tower also includes a dry cooling section disposed laterally adjacent the wet section and configured to enable the draft fan to draw air through the dry section. In another embodiment, the dry cooling section has one or more added draft fan(s) for drawing air through the dry section with or without operation of the draft fan disposed above the wet section. In other embodiments, different structures and configurations of plastic splash fill material are described.

A water collection system is provided for an indirect evaporative cooler. The water collection system includes a housing having an open bottom, a front wall, a back wall, and two end walls, which together define an interior region of the housing. The water collection system further includes a plurality of tube assemblies each extending through one of the front wall and the back wall of the housing and disposed within the interior region of the housing. The water collection system further includes a plurality of panel assemblies disposed within the interior region of the housing above the plurality of tube assemblies. Each panel assembly is associated with a respective tube assembly to channel fluid to the tube assembly. A method of collecting and distributing water within an indirect evaporative cooler configured to spray water on a heat exchanger is further disclosed.

A composite hanger grid for supporting splash bars in a cooling tower uses separate vertical suspension members and horizontal beams by which all of the operational loads imposed on the splash bars are transferred to the horizontal beams, which then transfer the load to the vertical suspension members. Since all of the horizontal beams are independent of each other and separate components from the vertical suspension members, the horizontal beams will be loaded equally throughout the entire hanger grid. Also disclosed are components of the composite hanger grid, splash bars adapted for use with specific embodiments of the composite hanger grid, assemblies of the composite hanger grid with its supported splash bars, a method of assembling a composite hanger grid and a method of assembling an evaporative cooler fill assembly, including hanger grids and splash bars, in a cooling tower.