Intercooler technology

[LRWatson]

At a recent auto show I became intrigued with the water spray-jet on the intercooler of a Subaru WRX.

This would be a pretty simple idea to implement using a 12V pressure-demand garden sprayer with a jet or two in front of the AC condenser. The spray could be triggered with an adjustable pressure switch T'd into the boost-measuring port and set to spray at high boost pressures.

- - - But first, how does one go about measuring the temperature-drop across the intercooler? Has anyone done this in a low cost way? What is the approximate intercooler temperature range for a basically stock '99 truck when driving at highway speeds at light loads?

Has anyone done the water spray or the instrumentation? Let me know.

 

[Diesel Power]

thats interesting, you could put guages in the opposite sides of the intercooler for temp drop measures 0-500* would work fine. :-laf

 

[Turbo Thom]

We tried this in sort of a way on Jeff's race truck. One day last summer we were dynoing the truck and were doing different things. We were talking about how hot the intercooler was. So out came the hose and the spray nozzle on fine mist. Jeff started the pull and I sprayed the intercooler. At first there was runoff from the water, but when he nailed the fuel, the front of the intercooler turned into a steam maker. ALL the water was gone, I mean the intercooler was dry, as though I had not sprayed water on it at all. I didn't know the thing got that hot, but there it was.



Now the question. How do you regulate the amount of water spray so that there is no "runoff" to the ground? The spray on the intercooler works, but to control the amount, and when, is the question.



. . Preston. .

 

[mcoleman]

I've seen vehicles with a nitrous spraybar mounted on the intercooler also.

 

[DAWG-1]

Spray Bar

A Co2 bottle with a u shaped spray bar would work. It would be another stop to make on the way to the track. Sam

 

[DMcPherson]

if I can find the link I will post it bu you can search online as there are spray controllers available. c02 works well also. you make a "halo" and drill . 040 or so holes around it. so it spray s theintercooler. much colder and cleaner.

 

[pwerwagn]

I'll have to foward this link to Wicked 6. He did this project on a factory intercooler-location grand national. They are mounted behind the radiator, so the benifits of the system were great.

He even did the heat calcs and all.



I have a setup that my uncle started building back in the day. Its called MR Misty, or something like that. its basically copper tubing with threaded "t's" that you thread in small orfices. Its meant to keep you cool on a hot day. I've been contemplating setting up a system to cool my intercooler, and my plan was to use a hobbs switch of some sort. I thought maybe if it only comes on at 15psi boost or more, it shouldnt make to big of a mess everywhere.



with the nozzles I have, you can run 90psi of water to them, and they will use about a half-gallon per hour a piece. I planned on using 12, so 6gal per hour.

If I ever get to It, I'll let you know the results.



--Jeff

 

[Elite1]

I heard of a guy taking a spray unit like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AX5O2/ref=nosim/104-5499219-2687144?n=228013



mounting it in the bed of his truck and running longer hose, putting a few spray nozzels near the inter-cooler... he lives out in the desert and says it works great, makes a huge difference when it is a hot day and he is pulling a grade.

 

[BigBadDodge]

Ya mean like this:

DEI CryO2



Intercooler water sprayer:

#ad




BBD

 

[BigBadDodge]

Spray Bars:



#ad




BBD

 

[wicked6]

Wow. . I almost feel like a celebrity after Argo referenced my "findings". . Yeah - spraying the intercooler with distilled water (and even adding a little alcohol) has a quantifiable impact on the efficiency of any intercooler, but esp. a LARGE air to air HX. . Reason. ? air to air intercoolers are sized & designed BIG because the thermal coefficient of air sucks, compared to water. . right??



So... take what you all know about swamp coolers in the desert (air temp drop thanks to the latent heat of evaporation of the water in the air. . ), couple it with droplets of water landing on the fins, voila' - suddenly you are pulling heat out at a much faster rate, dropping the outlet temp closer to ambient, yada yada yada, basically - your inlet air temp gets cooler FASTER, and you can cool it for a longer period of time... ie. you don't heat soak the intercooler - CRITICAL if you are pulling a long grade. . !! hint hint. . Oh yeah - more boost, anyone. . ?? Oo. I think I titled the paper with some fancy engineering lingo (I have since forgotten) about dual phase (liquid/air) intracooling & effects on combustion efficiencies... shoulda patented the system... :{



... Heck - add a water / methanol engine injection set up into the mix and go have some REAL fun... ! (and share your EGT "drop" stories, please)

 

[Diesel Freak]

Wow. . I almost feel like a celebrity after Argo referenced my "findings". . Yeah - spraying the intercooler with distilled water (and even adding a little alcohol) has a quantifiable impact on the efficiency of any intercooler, but esp. a LARGE air to air HX. . Reason. ? air to air intercoolers are sized & designed BIG because the thermal coefficient of air sucks, compared to water. . right??



So... take what you all know about swamp coolers in the desert (air temp drop thanks to the latent heat of evaporation of the water in the air. . ), couple it with droplets of water landing on the fins, voila' - suddenly you are pulling heat out at a much faster rate, dropping the outlet temp closer to ambient, yada yada yada, basically - your inlet air temp gets cooler FASTER, and you can cool it for a longer period of time... ie. you don't heat soak the intercooler - CRITICAL if you are pulling a long grade. . !! hint hint. . Oh yeah - more boost, anyone. . ?? Oo. I think I titled the paper with some fancy engineering lingo (I have since forgotten) about dual phase (liquid/air) intracooling & effects on combustion efficiencies... shoulda patented the system... :{



... Heck - add a water / methanol engine injection set up into the mix and go have some REAL fun... ! (and share your EGT "drop" stories, please)

Yup Yup!!!!!

lookin good!!!!



However I would stay away fron any CO2 setups. It is a horrible heat sink, and in order to get enough of it across the intercooler to make a difference, you would lower the available O2 content of the air in the emmediate vicinity of the engine to cause a drop in power (on the dyno of course)



Water would be the best solution!!! (pun intended)

 

[paulb]

However I would stay away fron any CO2 setups. It is a horrible heat sink, and in order to get enough of it across the intercooler to make a difference, you would lower the available O2 content of the air in the emmediate vicinity of the engine to cause a drop in power (on the dyno of course)



Water would be the best solution!!! (pun intended)

Spraying water on the intercooler, and then using CO2 to freeze it, also works really well. Not legal in NHRA though...



Paul

 

[rweis]

This subject came up about 1 or 2 years ago with respect to transmission coolers. One comment was that when the water hit the HOT engine and generally some dirt there, it turned into a very hard scale encrusted mass.



The concept of distilled water or demineralized water was discussed and there was no conclusion if the hard scale mass would or would not form.



As some of the liquid passes through the intercooler system and enters into the engine compartment care would have to be taken to not spray so much water that the engine compartment (especially electric wiring, insulation) become water impregnated.



Just some thoughts,



Bob Weis

 

[Diesel Freak]

it would be no worse than a typical washington state rainstorm. If scale does not form then, it won't form any other time!!

 

[hammersley]

This subject came up about 1 or 2 years ago with respect to transmission coolers. One comment was that when the water hit the HOT engine and generally some dirt there, it turned into a very hard scale encrusted mass.



BINGO - I've seen this - you must keep these cleaned or else it's a nightmare. If you are using it in dusty areas - big problem... .

 

[surfbeetle]

There is a product in some of the rv mags that consist of mist sprayers and a pump that you spray down your radiator to cool the engine on long grades. I think the name was Desert Cool, but I couldn't find anything online about it.

 

[wicked6]

<Linc kicking himself for not filing a patent in 1996>



Regarding scale / dirt buildup - definite probability. ! One does have to be diligent about using distilled / DI water since you *will* collect and evaporate water off the tubes & fins. . Scale buildup on the HX can only be mitigated if there's low mineral content in solution. .



As for steaming the engine compartment + components - it, too is a possibility - but most newer vehicles use weatherpack electrical connectors. . (should not be an issue, basically). Besides, if anyone has EVER cleaned their engine compartment at the local car wash, you know as well as I do that the wiring & underhood components can handle some splish-splash...



Linc

 

[pwerwagn]

Wow. . I almost feel like a celebrity after Argo referenced my "findings". .

Oh yeah, you are now a bonifide celebrity... . courtesy of moi...



--Jeff

 

[2-ND TIME]

intercoolers

I have measured mine with the infared gun when dynoing and it on various occasions and it only got to 110 /120*f on the top so don't have to worry about it. No where near the 150*f .