liquid to air intercooler plumbing
Moderators: The Dark Side of Will, Series8217
liquid to air intercooler plumbing
On a PWR barrel intercooler, which end should the water go in? Without thinking too much about it I'd say cold water should go in the turbo side and come out the engine side, but I'm not sure that's right. I don't know how the water flows within the cooler, they just say "the unique internal baffle system ensures an even amount of cooling is provided within the barrel itself.". I'm assuming it zig-zags back and forth through several stacked heat exchangers. In any case, it enters on one end and exits the other. I'm waiting for a reply from PWR but figured I might find a thermodynamics expert here.
I like that you stepped up to the plate and bought a real intercooler.
Well, if you want a more even temp across the entire intercooler, you'd feed the water into the inlet.
But if you wanted the outlet cooler, you'd feed into the outlet.
I'm not sure what the advantage would be to either.
I'm also not sure that the PWR is designed symmetrically as I've never cut one open so it might not flow well if you do it backwards.
Well, if you want a more even temp across the entire intercooler, you'd feed the water into the inlet.
But if you wanted the outlet cooler, you'd feed into the outlet.
I'm not sure what the advantage would be to either.
I'm also not sure that the PWR is designed symmetrically as I've never cut one open so it might not flow well if you do it backwards.
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My knowledge is reversing it you'd have cooler water at the coldest air to still be able to cool it more. Get a temp sensor in your air stream before and after the intercooler. Try the water bothways then report back. Both directions have their strong point of why to do it that way. So it's a coin toss to me.
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But with warm water at the inlet you don't transfer as much heat from the hot air at the inlet, so the air that gets to the outlet is hotter than it would be with cold water at the inlettxf wrote:My knowledge is reversing it you'd have cooler water at the coldest air to still be able to cool it more. Get a temp sensor in your air stream before and after the intercooler. Try the water bothways then report back. Both directions have their strong point of why to do it that way. So it's a coin toss to me.
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Rockcrawl, I have run heat xchanger experiments in my thermodynamics labs at college. You will want to run counter flow, so whichecver side the hot air comes in the cold coolant should come in. Im not sure how it affects air/water, but on water/water xchangers it make a noticable difference, and thats at lower temp differences. With more extreme temps, it should prove the same, as pwr seems to agree.
Note: on large (industrial) heat xchangers, for the sake of the equipment, and locations of hookups, parralel flow may be used because the contact area is so much larger, it dosent really matter. but for lil ones, counter flow is best.
Note: on large (industrial) heat xchangers, for the sake of the equipment, and locations of hookups, parralel flow may be used because the contact area is so much larger, it dosent really matter. but for lil ones, counter flow is best.
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p8ntman442 wrote:Rockcrawl, I have run heat xchanger experiments in my thermodynamics labs at college. You will want to run counter flow, so whichecver side the hot air comes in the cold coolant should come in. Im not sure how it affects air/water, but on water/water xchangers it make a noticable difference, and thats at lower temp differences. With more extreme temps, it should prove the same, as pwr seems to agree.
Note: on large (industrial) heat xchangers, for the sake of the equipment, and locations of hookups, parralel flow may be used because the contact area is so much larger, it dosent really matter. but for lil ones, counter flow is best.
What PWR recommended is parallel flow... cold coolant and hot air entering at the same end of the unit. Counter flow would be cold water entering where cooled air exited.
Now that it's been mentioned, I do recall something about heat exchangers liking large relative velocities (counter flow). I guess do what was previously suggested and measure the temp drop each way.
yes with counter flow you have a higher volume of cold water interacting with the air flow.. more potential for heat transferThe Dark Side of Will wrote: Now that it's been mentioned, I do recall something about heat exchangers liking large relative velocities (counter flow). I guess do what was previously suggested and measure the temp drop each way.
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