Charge Air Cooler Fan

[wildsailor]

Many large turbo trucks use fans to assist with the cooling of the charge air when the going gets hot. I have read many comments from tuners looking for ways to cool the air charge down with new larger capacity intercoolers since the Ecoboost is Inlet Air Temperature sensitive. Has anyone read of the development of an electric fan (or two) being looked at instead of changing out the intercooler to a gianormous aftermarket unit?

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[Juben]

Many large turbo trucks use fans to assist with the cooling of the charge air when the going gets hot. I have read many comments from tuners looking for ways to cool the air charge down with new larger capacity intercoolers since the Ecoboost is Inlet Air Temperature sensitive. Has anyone read of the development of an electric fan (or two) being looked at instead of changing out the intercooler to a gianormous aftermarket unit?

I haven't seen or heard of anything on that front, and that's probably for a few reasons.

Not only is the factory unit inefficient in it's cooling abilities, but it also flows poorly. Upgrading to an aftermarket unit brings very noticeable differences in both throttle response and consistency of power delivery.

In addition, other options to help reduce charge air temps also provide additional benefits. With WMI kits, not only does the water help cool the charge air temps, but the additional octane from the methanol also helps reduce knock, etc.

I think the more well developed options like WMI, intercooler spray bars, etc., would provide more benefits and also be more efficient specifically in regards to reducing temps.

 

[arghx7]

The question is, what's the limiting factor - airflow, or the heat rejection capacity of the intercooler? Those trucks have big fans in part for climbing grades at slow vehicle speeds, low engine speeds, and high engine loads. It's a lot different from a Mustang banging through gears, engine and vehicle speed changing quickly.

 

[Impulsed7]

The question is, what's the limiting factor - airflow, or the heat rejection capacity of the intercooler? Those trucks have big fans in part for climbing grades at slow vehicle speeds, low engine speeds, and high engine loads. It's a lot different from a Mustang banging through gears, engine and vehicle speed changing quickly.

With the big trucks, the intercoolers are often the same size as the radiator, so these "charge air cooler fans" are just the electric fan for the radiator too, that just turned on to help the charge air temps as well.

They aren't just specific fans for the intercoolers.

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