The reason for these issues is likely that the intercooler brand model you have chosen is not suitable for your usage scenario. Which brand should I choose from?
The key points for choosing a medium cooling system are: cooling effect, volume, and shape.
First, list out all the intercooler brands that can be purchased, and it is best to find installation drawings and some detailed pictures. Look at the differences between the intercoolers of each brand.
If you are planning to switch to a larger turbo, choose a larger volume intercooler
If you still want to use the original turbine and only slightly increase the turbine pressure, it is not recommended to use intercoolers with excessive volume
It is not recommended to choose color medium cooling
If it is water-cooled, then it is necessary to strengthen the heat dissipation of the coolant.
Intermediate cooling is used for cooling
The position of the intake temperature sensor varies for each vehicle model, so when we talk about intake temperature ITA, we need to distinguish where the temperature is.
Usually, cars have two or three intake temperature sensors (labeled as ITA 1, ITA 2, ITA 3 in the data stream), some after air filtration, some after intercooling, and some on the intake manifold.
The sensor after air filtration is closest to the ambient temperature. In summer, during normal driving, the temperature may be 10-15 ° C higher than the ambient temperature, and during parking or traffic congestion, the temperature may be 20-40 ° C higher than the ambient temperature.
During winter driving, the difference between the data and the ambient temperature is generally around 5 ° C.
The first sensor after intercooling is usually set between the intercooling and throttle valve. For individual players, a simple way to determine the effectiveness of an intercooler is to compare the data difference between this sensor and the air filter sensor.
The smaller the difference, the better the cooling effect of intercooling on the pressurized new gas.
It should be clearly pointed out here that only looking at the "intake temperature" on the original factory instrument panel or the OBD instrument panel connected to it does not indicate the problem. It is necessary to compare the data of the two sensors before and after intercooling to determine the effectiveness of intercooling.
If you are just an individual player without data stream recording devices or expedition computers, you can buy a WIFI or Bluetooth OBD device for a few tens of yuan and connect your phone to see a lot of real-time data. The recommended mobile app is Torque.
Since intercooling is used for cooling, we should try our best to achieve the goal of cooling.
The length and width of the original intercooler are usually the same as those of the original intercooler, but they will be thicker. Some will also be designed with two thicknesses, top and bottom. This design is to make the most of the space near the intercooler and increase the external dimensions of the intercooler as much as possible.
Increasing the thickness increases the time for external cold air to flow through the intercooler, increases the time for internal high-pressure hot air to cool down, and enhances the cooling effect.
What to pay attention to when choosing an intercooler
intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines.
Intercooler is designed to cool down.
Cooling down can control detonation, reduce piston thermal load, increase power, increase torque platform, reduce fuel consumption, and lower nitrogen and oxygen emissions.
Many turbo car players will switch to intercooling. Some people say they didn't think the power was better after the modification, while others say the turbo delay is greater after the modification. Why is this?
With these questions in mind, let's enter the main text...
Silver has good heat dissipation
Some intercoolers may spray black, blue or other colors on the surface of aluminum or stainless steel, or spray their own brand logo. Adding a layer of barrier will reduce the heat exchange efficiency. These spray paints are harmful to cooling.Some people say that the turbo delay will increase after replacing the large and medium coolers, while others say it won't. For this issue, we can look at the internal volume of the intercooler. The method of measuring volume is to inject water into the intercooling pipeline, and the volume can be determined by observing the amount of water injected.The torque of a turbo engine is mainly provided by intake pressure. When the target pressure remains unchanged in the turbine itself and ECU program, the boosting action and inflation amount executed by the turbine also remain basically unchanged.
So, the volume of the pipeline between the turbine and the valve largely determines the magnitude of the turbine delay. The turbine blows air into the pipeline with the same capacity, and the larger the volume, the harder it is to achieve high pressure.
Fin design is very important
The so-called "large to medium cooling" can refer to a larger shape of the medium cooling or a larger volume.
Some large and medium cooling systems have slightly larger capacity than the original factory, and their appearance is much larger than the original factory. Some large and medium cooling capacities are also much larger than the original factory. When choosing a medium cold, we must carefully discern.When the volume is close, the more fins there are, the more sufficient the heat and cold exchange is, but their external dimensions are also larger. Many factors, such as the number of fins, effective area, gap, and material thermal conductivity, can affect heat exchange. It is difficult to directly determine the design of a mid cooled fin.Temperature distribution is also important
The shape of the internal air duct and the two end chambers of an intercooler with the same volume can also affect the cooling effect and turbine delay.
If the design is not good, the boost gas may not fully flow through the entire intercooler and only utilize a portion of the pipeline when in a certain state (pressure rise or drop) or within a certain pressure range. This will lead to poor cooling effect.The manufacturer's solution to this problem is to establish a fluid model to analyze the airflow path and heat exchange efficiency.
As aftermarket modification shops or individual players, we can measure the temperature distribution on the intercooler to get a rough idea. A simple one can use an infrared thermometer, while a more intuitive one can use a thermal imager.
The ideal scenario would be for the temperature at the beginning of each pipeline to be as consistent as possible, and for the temperature difference between the beginning and end to be as large as possible.