Leebro61

I posted this on vortex and got no response, but those guys are, for the most part, worthless anyway...

Guys, I'm looking to collect different measurements from a variety of different brand cores (Garret, Treadstone, Ebay, etc.). It would really help me out if people could take some quick measurements if they have a core laying around.

What I'm looking for...

1) Air Passage Height
2) Turbulator Height
3) Thickness of a turbulator fin
4) Number of turbulators per inch

If you have a core without endtanks, the thickness of the metal defining the core passages would also be great.

I've already developed a detailed thermal model tool of an intercooler core, and my goal is to have the user be able to choose the "brand" and size of their intercooler, then the thermal/geometric properties would auto populate and they could run the tool to see how their intercooler performs at a range of boost levels, vehicle speeds and ambient temperatures.

Thanks,
Lee

Edit - This is how the tool would work and what it would do!


Input field - specify your altitude, ambient temperature, boost pressure, engine displacement, speed, volumetric efficiency, vehicle speed and intercooler height/width/length, intercooler flow orientation, etc. Choose your compressor model and intercooler brands from the drop down list...

The outputs below it would then be compressor efficiency and pressure ratio. Standard and corrected mass flow rates. Intercooler inlet and exit temperatures, intercooler temperature rise (of the core itself), and finally intercooler effectiveness.



When you select the compressor from the drop down, the sheet automatically finds the compressor efficiency given the pressure ratio and estimated mass flow from user inputs.



Then, when you specify your intercooler core brand, it goes to a lookup table to find the fin count and core geometries. This is fed into the thermal model.



Finally, the air temperature is plotted across the length of the core (from inlet to outlet). From this trending you can get a pretty good idea at what point a longer core stops doing you any favors.



You can also run comparisons of different core brands, dimensions, ambients, boost levels, etc.



While a handful of assumptions go in to creating the "tool", all of the trends I have seen seem exactly in line with what I would expect. From my engineering judgment, I would expect that the outlet temperatures are probably +/- 10% of real world. However, I would expect the deltas (core to core, hot to cold day, change in boost pressure) are probably much more accurate. If I'm just talking to myself I'll stop now