It is well-known that internal combustion engines generate a lot of heat while running.
This heat increases the temperature of the engine. If the temperature is not controlled, serious damage can occur to the engine.
The car engine works by burning fuel in the cylinders. As a result, all parts become very hot.
As the temperature of the metal elements rises, they expand.
If they are not cooled, this will lead to various problems in the power unit, such as cracks in the cylinder head, in the cooling jacket, cylinder head deformation, excessive piston thermal expansion, and so on.
Ignoring such issues will lead to costly internal combustion engine repairs.
In other to prevent this from happening, there is a system called a cooling system. The cooling system maintains the engine’s temperature, not too cool or too high.
Several components comprise the cooling system, one of which is the radiator.
Every water-cooled engine uses a radiator. Therefore, you must ask which radiator is most efficient.
To stabilize the temperature, all internal combustion engines in their design have a cooling jacket where a liquid circulates using a pump.
The heated antifreeze is fed through the motorway to the car’s radiator. In it, the liquid cools and then flows back to the engine.
This process allows you to maintain the operating temperature of the internal combustion engine.
If there were no radiator in the design of the cooling system, the liquid in it would boil quickly.
In the car, this part is installed at the front of the engine compartment. It is necessary so that colder air enters the aircraft.
The efficiency of a radiator (heat exchangers) depends on the following factors:
1. Number of pipes – the more there are, the better the antifreeze will cool down;
2. Cross section of pipe – oval shape increases the contact area with air, which increases heat transfer;
3. Forced airflow – especially useful in urban driving mode;
4. Cleanliness – the more debris between the radiator’s fins, the more difficult it will be for fresh air to enter hot pipes.
In addition to the radiator mentioned above properties, some other factors are still there that make a radiator outstanding, which will be discussed in the paragraphs below.
In an internal combustion engine, the radiator is a heat exchanger that integrates the two circuits in the cooling system.
Pipe plates and pipe band radiator grids are used. In the radiator, seams or solid-drawn pipes made of brass tape with a thickness of up to 0.15 mm are used to pass the coolant.
Aluminium radiators are also used: they are cheaper and lighter, but the heat exchange properties, everything else being equal (dimensions, heat exchange area, etc.), and the reliability is lower.
On diesel locomotives, a similar device is called a “refrigerator,” not a radiator; although their job is similar, their names are different.
A car radiator, whose unit contains two tanks – an upper and a lower, and pipes between them, perform an important function and is responsible for preventing engine overheating.
In the sections below, we’ll discuss how this happens and what types of this node we can find in our machines.
The material from which the car radiators are made is metal (aluminum or copper).
The walls of the heat exchanger are very thin, which means that the antifreeze quickly releases the temperature and cools down.
The design of the radiator consists of thin tubes welded together in the shape of a rectangle.
This element is mounted on two tanks (one at the inlet, the other at the outlet). In addition, the plates are drawn on the pipes, which increases the heat transfer area.
Air passes between the ribs and quickly cools the surface of the part.
All heat exchangers have two openings: inlet and outlet. The pipes of the system are connected to them.
The heat exchanger is equipped with a plug installed at the structure’s bottom to drain the liquid from the cavity.
If the car is driving on a motorway, there is enough airflow to cool the antifreeze naturally (blows the ribs).
When it comes to traffic in the city, the airflow is not so intense. For this, a large fan is installed in the cooling system behind the radiator.
In older car models, it was driven directly by an engine. Modern machines are equipped with an antifreeze temperature control system, including forced air flow if necessary.
How Many Radiators Does a Car Have?
As mentioned earlier, engine components need to be cooled to avoid overheating.
For these reasons, many radiators are designed in a car to handle some components that need to be cooled.
So let us list some radiators that can be found in modern cars:
- A radiator for the engine coolant
- An engine oil cooler is mounted in front or behind the coolant radiator
- A transmission oil cooler mounted in front or behind the coolant radiator
- An intercooler for the turbocharger is mounted in front of the other radiators.
Some high-performance machines may also have a radiator for a different oil.
It disregards the fact that some engines have systems, and the core of the heater in the car is also a type of radiator.
Where Is Radiator Cap Located
The main function of the radiator cover is to release the excess water or pressure when the cooling system expands due to the high temperature and pressure;
it flows into the auxiliary radiator, and when the cooling system temperature is low, the extra water is removed through the radiator cover again.
The radiator cap is found at the top of the radiator.
The water in the radiator is sucked back into the cooling system so that the water in the cooling system will not be short of water when the temperature is high or low.
The radiator cover has a fixed pressure value, and it is not good for water to be under high pressure.
When the temperature is normal, the coolant boil at low pressure and will generate air so that the radiator can maintain constant pressure in the system radiator cap may be small. Still, it plays an important role in the cooling system.