foreigneRS

please discuss. i've just been reading a little bit about these mad things.

you feed in compressed air, and out of one end comes cold air, and hot air out of another. more on the theory here, http://www.iprocessmart.com/Exair/vo...bes_theory.htm

but let's think about an application. and what do we think about a lot on here? turbocharged engines of course

how about feeding the compressed air from the turbocharger compressor to the vortex cooler, and then out of it comes some cooled air that may or may not require further intercooling. the hot air could be vented downstream in the exhaust somewhere.

some advantages that i can see:

you don't need movement of the vehicle to provide intercooling
the higher pressure you have, the more cooling that you get
turbo's produce more boost at higher rpm, if used somehow instead of a wastegate cooler air could be achieved just when it's needed.

some disadvantages:

maybe a high pressure drop across the device, meaning turbo has to work harder in the first place to make the boost, meaning hotter compressor outlet temperatures

wayneclayden

Think air flow would be a big issue

foreigneRS

what do you mean? getting enough? most turbo's produce excess air anyway, hence the need for a wastegate.

wayneclayden

I think getting enough un- disturbed air flow through the cooler could be a problem

foreigneRS

sorry, i don't get you? it's just a t-piece thingy that you feed compressed air into in the middle and cold air comes out of one end, and hot air out of the other. where does un-disturbed air flow come into it?

scruffythefirst

I think you'd need laminar airflow entering it, which is difficult to do with anything other than a small tube. hence you'd need loads of them

foreigneRS

no you don't need any special inlet air conditions. it can be supplied by any compressed air supply. they're normally used for cooling applications using normal compressed air from any old outlet (even coil hose or whatever)