What Is Intercooler? Intercooler In Car Engine

In our last article, we discussed turbochargers. An intercooler is related to a turbocharger so I am going to discuss intercoolers today. Here, I have covered What is intercooler? Types of intercoolers, their functions, the working of intercoolers, and what makes them different from radiators?

What is an intercooler?

An intercooler is a heat exchanger device, just like a radiator. It is found in automobiles, ac refrigerators, and gas turbines. 

But here, I talked about the intercoolers that are used in automobile vehicles. An intercooler is a part of a forced induction system. A turbocharger helps to induce the air inside the cylinder forcefully.

Intercooler In Car Diesel Engine

Intercoolers are found in a car's diesel engines. It is part of a forced induction setup. After installing an intercooler we can see many changes in our engine. Like, engine power and mileage are increased. The engines use less full to deliver more power. But, the main task of an intercooler is to decrease the temperature of the incoming air from the turbo compressor and thus densify the air required which optimizes the combustion process.

Generally, intercoolers are placed between the turbocharger and the engine's intake manifold. Intercoolers are easily visible under the bonnet of a car. The turbocharger's compressor part is connected to the intercooler's intake and the intercooler's outer part is connected to the intake manifold.

Working Of Intercooler | Its Function

The air getting compressed via the charger/compressor, must not get heated, otherwise there force induction setup will be failed. So, this heat exchanger device known as an intercooler takes up all the heat from the compressed air and continues transferring the cold air to the engine's intake manifold.

The actual cooling occurs via using the fins using the conduction process. They need a larger surface area to get better cooling. The larger the surface area, the more easy and effective cooling will be done. In this heat exchanger device, heat can be dissipated to the surroundings as efficiently as possible. It also helps to increase the compression ratio.

Intercoolers don't require any battery or moving parts to operate. They use the conduction method as described.

Types of Intercooler

There are two types of intercoolers they are followed as:

Air  To Air Intercooler

Air-to-air cooler means air is getting cooled with the help of air only. No other substance or materials is used. Hot air flows inside the intercooler tubes and cool air present outside or flowing from the fins of the intercooler makes the hot air cool down effectively. Heat is getting transferred from the hot air to the cool air by the conduction process. 

Water To Air Intercooler

Air to water intercooler uses the water cooling system of the car to cool down the compressed air. Just like a radiator it also uses coolant to cool down the air coming from the compressor. The coolant is shared with the radiator. Manufacturers place the intercooler near the intake manifold and try to reduce the distance as short as possible so the cooled air can't be heated again before reaching to the combustion chamber.

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How is Intercooler different from Radiator?

Here are the top 4 major points which make the intercooler different from a car radiator:

1. A radiator cools the coolant, on the other hand, an intercooler cools down the compressed air.
2. The radiator exchanges heat from liquid to air and the intercooler exchanges heat from air to air.
3. A radiator can be found in almost every vehicle, whereas an intercooler is found only where a forced induction system is installed.
4. A radiator is easily available and less expensive as compared to an intercooler.