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Difference between revisions of "Aftercoolers"
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An aftercooler is any mechanical device used to cool a fluid, including liquids or gasses, between stages of a | |||
multi-stage heating process, typically a heat exchanger that removes waste heat in a gas compressor.[1] They are | |||
used in many applications, including air compressors, air conditioners, refrigerators, and gas turbines, and are widely | |||
known in automotive use as an air-to-air or air-to-liquid cooler for forced induction (turbocharged or supercharged) | |||
internal combustion engines to improve their volumetric efficiency by increasing intake air charge density through nearly | |||
isobaric (constant pressure) cooling. | |||
Aftercoolers increase the efficiency of the induction system by reducing induction air heat created by the turbo | |||
charger and promoting more thorough combustion. This removes the heat of compression (i.e., the temperature rise) that | |||
occurs in any gas when its pressure is raised or its unit mass per unit volume (density) is increased. A decrease in | |||
intake air charge temperature sustains use of a more dense intake charge into the engine, as a result of supercharging. | |||
The lowering of the intake charge air temperature also eliminates the danger of pre-detonation (knock) of the fuel air | |||
charge prior to timed spark ignition. Thus preserving the benefits of more fuel/air burn per engine cycle, increasing | |||
the output of the engine. They also eliminate the need for using the wasteful method of lowering intake charge temperature | |||
by the injection of excess fuel into the cylinders' air induction chambers, to cool the intake air charge, prior to its | |||
flowing into the cylinders. This wasteful practice (when intercoolers are not used) nearly eliminated the gain in engine | |||
efficiency from supercharging, but was necessitated by the greater need to prevent at all costs the engine damage that | |||
pre-detonation engine knocking causes. | |||