Correct design for a charge cooler system please!
Discussion
Hello,
I'm putting my brother's car back together, but I'm a bit unsure how the charge cooler system is supposed to be. I am hoping an expert on here can help!
The car is a stage 3 VX220 Turbo and it's had a Pace/Courtney Sport charge cooler system fitted to it. It comprises of a pump (just bought a new Bosch electric water up to replace the failed Jabsco pump), swirl pot, heat exchanger unit and a pre-rad.
I've had a look at a few websites, namely Advanced Vehicle Tuning, and it would seem the system we had was plumbed in incorrectly. The water went - pump > heat exchanger > pre-rad > swirl pot > pump.
But the AVT website suggests Pre rad > cold water out > pump (at lowest point) > chargecooler > tank/filler > hot water back to pre radiator.
Also, I'm pretty sure the water flowing through the charge cooler was flowing the wrong way. AVT says....
"Water flow - The cold water from the cool side of the radiator should be fed into the COLD side (ie throttle body side) of the chargecooler, and the hot water exiting the core should come out of the hot side (turbo side) of the chargecooler. This is a countercurrent design - the most efficient form of heat transfer across a medium."
Whereas the charge cooler system that was fitted had cold water entering the hot side of the heat exchange, and exiting on the cold side (throttle body side).
Can anyone help confirm the best design, and why the system on the car is plumbed incorrectly?
Thanks,
Dan
I'm putting my brother's car back together, but I'm a bit unsure how the charge cooler system is supposed to be. I am hoping an expert on here can help!
The car is a stage 3 VX220 Turbo and it's had a Pace/Courtney Sport charge cooler system fitted to it. It comprises of a pump (just bought a new Bosch electric water up to replace the failed Jabsco pump), swirl pot, heat exchanger unit and a pre-rad.
I've had a look at a few websites, namely Advanced Vehicle Tuning, and it would seem the system we had was plumbed in incorrectly. The water went - pump > heat exchanger > pre-rad > swirl pot > pump.
But the AVT website suggests Pre rad > cold water out > pump (at lowest point) > chargecooler > tank/filler > hot water back to pre radiator.
Also, I'm pretty sure the water flowing through the charge cooler was flowing the wrong way. AVT says....
"Water flow - The cold water from the cool side of the radiator should be fed into the COLD side (ie throttle body side) of the chargecooler, and the hot water exiting the core should come out of the hot side (turbo side) of the chargecooler. This is a countercurrent design - the most efficient form of heat transfer across a medium."
Whereas the charge cooler system that was fitted had cold water entering the hot side of the heat exchange, and exiting on the cold side (throttle body side).
Can anyone help confirm the best design, and why the system on the car is plumbed incorrectly?
Thanks,
Dan
heres how i did mine with an avt 6x6 cooler . one pump at outlet end of the cooler nearest the throttle body which gets fed from the top of the front rad and another bosch pump at the front of the car just before the low point of the front rad .
the pump at the engine end is on a switch and i have a cheap gauge tapped in to the front rad which is a mk2 polo unit to get an average temp of the system .
on the road i just run the front pump and water temp will go up to around 40 c in high summer .on track i run both pumps as the flow is a lot higher and temps stay pretty much the same .
the pump at the engine end is on a switch and i have a cheap gauge tapped in to the front rad which is a mk2 polo unit to get an average temp of the system .
on the road i just run the front pump and water temp will go up to around 40 c in high summer .on track i run both pumps as the flow is a lot higher and temps stay pretty much the same .
I'm no physicist but an area of extreme cold, next to an area of heat, will have a greater cooling effect. I have done a reasonable amount of welding so have first hand experience.
Heat is caused (if memory serves) by molecular vibration. A hot thing has more vibration and a cold thing less. In terms of metal, which is a heat conductor, the vibrations travel along its length.
It's easiest to imagine a flow of heat - in that the heat energy wants to escape. It escapes by flowing into a colder area. Cooling by conduction in effect. If you imagine a radiator (like a room heating radiator, not a car radiator), the ambient air is cooler so the heat flows outwards into it.
With metal the heat is conducted more efficiently, in that cold metal can effectively draw heat out of hot metal. If you put a welded piece on to a metal block, works better if it's a large one, the heat dissipates quickly. Like it flows into the block. The block molecules get excited and rob the hot metal molecules of their energy.
So to go back to the charge cooler, they recommend cooling on the cold side. This would, effectively, create the coldest possible spot at one end. Because the charge cooler is made of metal, you will get the most efficient means of cooling by conduction. The hot end, i.e. without cooling, will be energetic and the cold end less energetic.
Your original design involved cooling the hot end. Whilst this seems to be the logical thing to do, it won't work as effectively. You won't get the same effect of a cold spot drawing out the heat by conduction.
Heat is caused (if memory serves) by molecular vibration. A hot thing has more vibration and a cold thing less. In terms of metal, which is a heat conductor, the vibrations travel along its length.
It's easiest to imagine a flow of heat - in that the heat energy wants to escape. It escapes by flowing into a colder area. Cooling by conduction in effect. If you imagine a radiator (like a room heating radiator, not a car radiator), the ambient air is cooler so the heat flows outwards into it.
With metal the heat is conducted more efficiently, in that cold metal can effectively draw heat out of hot metal. If you put a welded piece on to a metal block, works better if it's a large one, the heat dissipates quickly. Like it flows into the block. The block molecules get excited and rob the hot metal molecules of their energy.
So to go back to the charge cooler, they recommend cooling on the cold side. This would, effectively, create the coldest possible spot at one end. Because the charge cooler is made of metal, you will get the most efficient means of cooling by conduction. The hot end, i.e. without cooling, will be energetic and the cold end less energetic.
Your original design involved cooling the hot end. Whilst this seems to be the logical thing to do, it won't work as effectively. You won't get the same effect of a cold spot drawing out the heat by conduction.
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