What does an intercooler do in a car?

We have been writing about turboheated engine before, and as we mentioned that kind of engines usually use on powerful cars, that’s why one of its consequences is that it can be easily overheated. There are several tools which can cool off the engine to the optimal temperature, and intercooler is one of them.

Why does it so important? Warm air has a lower density, therefore, at the same volume, the mass of warm and cooled air will be different. Running of warm air through the engine’s inside systems, bring about the fact that the engine power is decreased, what is more, this causes an unstable combustion process of the fuel mixture. Finally, it ruins the movement of fire in the combustion chamber and leads to detonation in the engine. Even though it isn’t the only reason why detonation proses happen. Anyway, this process is extremely undesirable for the car because of the damage, in particular, car’s equipment deteriorates more rapidly, it destroys the pistons and overheats the engine.

Intercooler low the air temperature at the turbine outlet, thereby increasing the engine power.

Starting a closer examination of what is an intercooler and how does it work, you need to start with its varieties. Reducing the temperature of the inflatable air occurs in two shames.

• Air intercooler (air-to-air cooling)
• Liquid intercooler (water-air cooling)
  •    Also, the intercoolers running on nitrous oxide or folk.

Recirculating airflow enclosure can be mounted on the car: 

• behind the front bumper
• at the top of the motor
• on the side of any front wing.  

In the first case, for this purpose cut out a window for an air collector. 

The air intercooler has a coarser and simpler construction in comparison to other species. Turbulence which is created in the thin aluminum tubes of the intercooler, improves heat exchange. When driving a car, the incoming air from the outside helps to cool the air inside the radiator, and all the excess heat is removed to the atmosphere. Additional air cooling is provided by tanks welded to the radiator, their task is to ensure the flow of air with low temperature to all parts of the engine.

The effectivity of the intercooler depends on its size. In its turn, this depends on the free area in the car and financial opportunities of the owner.

Water coolers differ from air coolers by their size (they are small itself) and higher productivity. At the same time, they have a much more complex construction and, in some cases, require additional cooling, which neutralizes the advantage of their compactness.

On the one hand, water cool the air faster and more impactful, on the other hand, water taking up the heat easily, and required additional intrinsic cooling properties. The water will cool down itself after a while, if you don’t fit this option, you need to improve the equipment of the water intercooler. Installation of such additional equipment as: water pump, additional power, control module, pipes and air radiator - all of these elements stacked the intercooler’s design and look close to the dual-circuit cooling.

Nitrogen coolers will be an ultra-efficient intercooler. In this case, nitrogen cools the inner surface of the intercooler but is used in short portions and also depends on climatic conditions.

Nitrogen doesn't contribute to combustion. It means that only oxygen in nitrous oxide will increase the engine’s power, by allowing fuel to be burned additionally in the combustion chamber.