Cooling Towers & Systems

Natural Draft Cooling Towers

In 1931 we designed and constructed our first natural draft cooling tower in the United Kingdom and from then onwards our engineers have been working on new cooling tower projects as well as inspections, maintenance, repairs and demolition as older towers begin to age. 

Due to age, process, and environmental conditions, reinforcement within their relatively thin concrete shell experiences corrosion leading to spalling and other damaging effects.  We utilize our extensive knowledge and experience with rigging, inspecting, and repairing concrete structures to provide similar solutions for these massive towers.  Our inspection programs include visual examination, topographical measurements, and surface mapping of the interior and exterior of the shell.  Systems such as cathodic protection can be introduced to control corrosion-related problems, which helps reduce structural failure events that can result in lost power generation, higher repair costs and personal injury.

Natural draft cooling tower services:

• Structural engineering & detailed design
• Project execution & planning
• Provision of materials & special equipment
• Inspections, repairs, & maintenance
• Partial & complete tower demolition
• Rigging & specialized access equipment

Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers

Dominion provides complete in-house design and construction services for the mechanical draft cooling tower market including design, construction, field erection, inspection, maintenance, and a wide array of aftermarket services.  We perform independent, objective evaluations to determine the best products and equipment to be used for each individual system.

Mechanical draft cooling services:

• Thermal design and engineering
• Structural inspections & repairs
• Field construction & mechanical erection
• Thermal performance testing
• Mechanical equipment replacement
• Cooling tower parts & components
• High efficiency solutions
• Emergency response

Dry Cooling Systems

Dry cooling technologies make it possible to limit the use of water at the power plant, to move forward in environmental conservation. This is a technology that is widely used to retrofit old plants while it is also extremely suitable for new construction, given that it increases the siting options and shortens the time needed to obtain a permit.

For the last 15 years, Dominion has been installing Air Cooled Condensers (ACCs) and Air-Cooled Heat Exchangers (ACHEs) for customers all over the world. Our services include:

• Concrete foundations
• Concrete columns
• Steel erection and prefabrication
• Lifting and hoisting
• Equipment installation
• Piping installation and welding
• Material management
• System testing and commissioning services

Dominion can also offer a wide array of aftermarket maintenance services, providing our customers the expertise to insure safe, efficient, and reliable operating of their ACC.  Our field service group offers the following maintenance services:

• Comprehensive inspections
• Cleaning, repair, and replacement of tube bundles
• Installation of wind screens to mitigate recirculation
• Mechanical equipment procurement and replacement (gear drives, fans, motors)

Additionally, we can work with our partners to provide custom plume simulations to predict recirculation and interference impacts using ANYS FLUENT computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software.