Analysis of Water-Cooled Intercooler Thermal Characteristics

Chao Yu,Jiarun Lou,Xiangyao Xue,Wenbao Zhang,Guochao Lao

doi:10.3390/en14248332

Abstract

With the incremental power of construction machinery diesel engines, the power performance of diesel engines and the pollutant emissions from the exhaust gas have imposed increasingly stringent requirements on the intake cooling system of diesel engines. This paper compared the j/f evaluation factors for fin unit bodies of water-cooled intercooler (including straight fins and rectangular misaligned fins) by means of CFD simulation, and found that the rectangular misaligned fins had an 8% advantage in comprehensive performance. With the rectangular staggered fin intercooler, it was found that under the same conditions, the cooling efficiency of the dual-pass water-cooled intercooler is higher than that of the single-pass water-cooled intercooler, and the uniformity factor of the temperature difference field of the dual-pass water-cooled intercooler is 1.5% higher than that of the latter. The accuracy of the overall simulation of the intercooler is verified by the field test. The dual-pass and single-pass water-cooled intercooler both can maintain heat balance under working conditions, and its average air inlet temperature is 10 °C lower than that of the original air-cooled intercooler, which provides support for further reducing the engine air inlet temperature. The results provide a theoretical basis for the performance improvement of water-cooled intercoolers.

Highlights

As an important part of internal combustion engine cooling systems, the intercooler improves power, reduces fuel consumption and reduces harmful emissions [1,2,3]
The results show that the fin height, the length of the fin discontinuity and the fin spacing are positively correlated with the heat transfer coefficient, while the fin thickness is negatively correlated with the heat transfer coefficient
In this paper, considering the lack of heat dissipation efficiency of the intercooler, multipass designs are adopted in the cooling side of the radiator to create the coolant, and high-temperature gas carries out more efficient heat transfer improving the heat transfer efficiency of the intercooler

Summary

Introduction

As an important part of internal combustion engine cooling systems, the intercooler improves power, reduces fuel consumption and reduces harmful emissions [1,2,3]. The influence of different fins on the heat transfer performance and flow resistance characteristics were studied. Song R. et al [8] used Fluent simulation software to perform numerical simulation calculations on the flow channel, and studied the heat transfer characteristics and resistance characteristics of the staggered fin. Kedam N. et al [15] studied a unique heat transfer factor “j” and friction factor “f” model for offset strip fins and rectangular wavy fins, and considered the influence of geometric variables such as plate space (Hp), fins Pitch (Pf), hydraulic diameter (Dh), wave amplitude (Aa), fin length (λ) and Reynolds number (Re). In this paper, considering the lack of heat dissipation efficiency of the intercooler, multipass designs are adopted in the cooling side of the radiator to create the coolant, and high-temperature gas carries out more efficient heat transfer improving the heat transfer efficiency of the intercooler This provides a new method for intercooler design

Governing Equation

Performance Analysis of Water-Cooled Intercooler Unit

Flow Field Analysis of Water-Cooled Intercooler

Findings

Conclusions