Does anyone know how hot the air is when entering the Intercooler to exiting?

Just curious!!!

 

Dang, I thought this was a thread concerning our significant others. My bad!

 

There are two air flows to consider. The incoming air temp from the
turbo will depend on the amount of turbo pressure at the moment,
the temperature of the air before it was compressed, and the temperature
of the turbo at the time. The air after the intercooler will have a lower
temperature, based on the amount of cooling air flow through the
intercooler (ambient air going through because of the motion of the car),
and the efficiency of the intercooler at mixing those two temps.
As a simple example, if the amount of cooling air flow is equal to
the amount of turbocharged air, and if the ambient temperature is
50 degrees, and the turbocharged air is 150 degrees, and if the
intercooler is 100% efficient in heat transfer/sharing, then the air
flow temperatures will combine and equilibrate to their average
temperatures, so the outgoing air will be 100 degrees for both air
flows. If the intercooler's efficiency is 80%, then the air to the motor
will only be cooled to 110 degrees, and the cooling air will only have risen to 90 degrees.
In the real world, depending on the efficiency and the actual amount of
air flowing (in both flows), the drop in charge temperature can vary widely.
Joe Weinstein

 

Thanks for the reply Joe, but I'm just curious as to what the turbo air flow temperture is on entry to exit, do you or anyone have a rough idea?

 

I hope PorschePHD and other chassis dyno tuners will chip in with
measurements they may have taken, but they know that their dyno
results (and therefore the engine air temperature) vary widely
depending on the number and placement of the fans they have in
the dyno room, pointed at the car.
Joe

 

If you have the compressor maps, and know engine airflow demand (based on VE), then it is fairly straight forward to calculate compressor exit temps. For example:

Ambient temp: 80 F
Boost level: 1 bar
Adiabatic compressor efficiency: 70%
Compressor outlet temp = 247 F

Intercooler inlet temp: 247 F
Ambient temp: 80 F
Intercooler thermal efficiency: 80%
Intercooler pressure drop: 1 psi
Intercooler exit temp = 113F (assuming no IC heat soak)

As I mentioned, these numbers are just a simple example of one steady-state case. The compressor efficiency obviously varies as you move across the flow map, and the IC pressure drop is also not a static number. But this at least gives you an idea of what the numbers can look like.

If you heat soak the IC on a long pull (due to an undersized IC or insufficient ambient airflow to shed the heat), you can see how things could get real ugly real fast. High charge air temps lead to detonation very easily.

 

Thanks also for reply Brett, but still looking for a rough temperature!!!

 

This is most likely not what you are looking for but it illustrates just how hot the air from these turbos can get. When I dynoed my last setup we put a thermocouple in the intercooler air inlet duct in the quarter panel to measure the temp of the air we were blowing up thru the intercooler exit with highspeed fans. The starting temp was about 60 degrees and after a 9 sec run it was almost 150 degrees..Kevin

 

Pretty crazy when consider a NA engine can be sucking in air that is much closer to ambient. No wonder the car feels like freight train when it's 45 degrees outside.

Is it still the concensus that the small stick-on winglets (or flared) intercooler air scoops are not effective? Seems they would move air over the IC at a higher velocity.

 

Thanks for that Kevin

 

Install a temp sensor before and after an intercooler and find out