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> Air Temperature Cooling
tristanlee85
Posted: Jun 6 2007, 07:06 PM


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I was a bit curious about something. On my car, I have an intercooler used to cool down the intake air as it goes into the engine. It works much like a radiator: fabricated in aluminum to pull heat out of the air and dissipate it as the air flows through the fins of the intercooler.

Say I am sitting at a stop light and the air temperature outside is 80*F. If my arm is hanging out the window, I can feel that is 80*F, but as I start to move, the air flowing around my arm seems to cool it down. Though, the ambient temperature is still 80*F right? In that case, let's assume the ambient temperature is 80*F. The air entering the intercooler is 80*. Once it's in the intercooler, it's passing through aluminum plates filled with thin aluminum fins to pull the heat out of the air. Is it possible that the air coming out of the intercooler is cooler than the air enter it? Again, the only method of cooling is the air passing through the intercooler. There is no water or alcohol used in this process.
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cjameshuff
Posted: Jun 6 2007, 08:01 PM


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QUOTE (tristanlee85 @ Jun 6 2007, 03:06 PM)
Say I am sitting at a stop light and the air temperature outside is 80*F. If my arm is hanging out the window, I can feel that is 80*F, but as I start to move, the air flowing around my arm seems to cool it down. Though, the ambient temperature is still 80*F right? In that case, let's assume the ambient temperature is 80*F. The air entering the intercooler is 80*. Once it's in the intercooler, it's passing through aluminum plates filled with thin aluminum fins to pull the heat out of the air. Is it possible that the air coming out of the intercooler is cooler than the air enter it? Again, the only method of cooling is the air passing through the intercooler. There is no water or alcohol used in this process.

The air flowing through the intercooler has been compressed, raising its temperature quite a bit above that of the ambient air. This is the reason for the intercooler...it removes heat from the compressed air (moving it to the ambient air), lowering pressure and allowing a greater mass of air to be compressed into a given volume, and allowing more fuel to be efficiently burned in the cylinder.
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