Laminova intercooler concept

[Ineptitude01]

So if I were to take a break from my other 3D projects and 'draw' this up, which design are we looking at being the most reasonable now?

[dan5138]

I like the first drawing myself. A low or mid-mount turbo, with the laminova sweeping up and in to a set of ITBs. You could fit 5+ sets of air to water coolers in there at least.

I was also thinking, you could possibly add baffles in between each cooler to force the air to travel over more of the surface. Picture a Venturi in between each set. Would most likely make off boost performance suffer a little, but would increase cooling effiency some.

[mulcibre]

each core slides into a tube with a slot on each side, this forces the air to flow over the entire surface of the core.

I have the same sentiments about the fuel, I know fuel pumps move a lot of liquid, but i'm skeptical of it's ability to effectively cool the manifold.

There was a guy running around with a AWIC setup on a WRX with a really small radiator, he needed 3+ gallons of reserve coolant to minimize soaking. Makes you wonder what would happen to the gas!

For the cryo bar, do you mean evaporating liquid nitrogen in a bar in the manifold? That would be a pretty trick setup for drag. In that category, remember that with an AWIC setup, you can fill the reservoir with ice or some other cold substance (dry ice) to get additional short term cooling.

As far as manifold heat soak goes, I'm not sure how much the AWIC performance is hampered by heat from the engine soaking to the cores. If you can keep the coolant temp down, the air would not heat up again appreciably prior to being mixed with the fuel and blown up.

thermal insulation would equal a more efficient setup, but how would you construct a composite manifold?

[Ineptitude01]

The composite manifold isn't so outlandish from an 'it would work' standpoint. But finding someone who can either CNC or weld up the manifold is already a chore. Finding someone who can make and shape composite material...

Well, basically, I'd say that's unrealistic.

[dan5138]

I' m not sure, would take a while to heat soak 10+ gallons on fuel. And at WoT only a small amount of fuel even gets returned to the tank anyway. I am pretty sure you would burn a 10 gallon tank before heat soaking it, especially if it's an L series with 15+ PSI of boost.

Building a manifold out of compsites would be pretty simple. Since it would all be flat surfaces, with a little curve to make it sweep from the turbo into the ITBs. Simple make a top, bottom, and side moulds. One of the sides would have to be removable, and brackets, mounting tabs etc. can be put into the composite as you are adding layers. Once it is all laid up, stick it together with a bit of resin and strips of composite for reinforcement.

Trying to make it all one solid piece would just be crazy. I don't remember which composite stands up to heat the best, I am thinking it's Kevlar which is cheaper than CF anyway.

[Ineptitude01]

Interesting. I've never worked with composites, but I could swear that some newer engines are actually using composite manifolds from the factory.

I want to say it's the GMC Ecotec series, but I can't remember.

My problem with fuel would be that at best, it's going to be a little cooler than ambient temperature. with the air-liquid exchanger, you're doing the same thing the radiator is doing, but without the thermostat. You have to figure that coolant is going to be somewhere within a few degrees of an engine's ideal operating temperature.

The goal of a normal cooling system is kind of like Goldilocks. Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuuust right.

I figure if you're going to go to the trouble of having something like the laminova core design, and you're going to make a seperate cooling system, why sell yourself short with a fluid that's never going to be much colder than ambient?

For that matter, ethylene glycol is a good coolant because it readily absorbs heat, prevents gunk, and doesn't freeze, but you can buy things that transfer heat much more efficiently. I agree, fuel is good at this part, but having a closed loop system based around something with an even higher btu efficiency seems like it would be the best way to work this.

You might even say it would be the... cool thing to do.

[mulcibre]

haha with the puns already!

Yeah, my concern is that 3 gallons of water, with active cooling, is proving insufficient with an undersized exchanger.

If the fuel isn't even flowing as much, and has no active cooling whatever, I could see it being problematic as there *will* be soak to some degree, which would not be an issue with a properly thought out water/coolant based system.

In this case, performance > simplicity IMO

[mulcibre]

Also, I believe the GM ones are the same material as the new subaru or whoever else, it's a thermoresin