why does pressure drop occur? Is it becuase of air's temperature drop leading to pressure drop in accordance with Amonton's laws? Or is it from something else? I would asume pressure drop is good, as it is impossible for air to become cooler without loss of pressure(asuming volume and incoming pressure are constant)- correct?

 

I read somewhere it was because of "aerodynamic drag".

The key is as long as the density charge gain is greater than the power loss (due to pressure drop) the intercooler is ok.

 

They had a real good series of articles on the autospeed site(crazy aussies) in which they measured the plumbing pressure drops and fixed them... http://autospeed.com/index.html

 

direct link:

http://www.autospeed.com/A_0652/page1.html

err try this one.

http://www.autospeed.com/A_0754/page...rc=suggestions


[Modified by mos, 10:25 AM 10/22/2002]

 

The pressure drops because the temperature drops. Colder air is more dense (i.e. you can fit more atoms in the same space). I was running 7psi without an intercooler and it dropped to 5psi when I put the intercooler on.

 

Simple, pressure drop occurs due to airflow restriction

Airflow can be restricted by tight bends in pipes, inadequate pipe sizing, obstructions in air path etc...In an intercooler the main thing that is going to cause pressure drop is turbulator density. If you have very dense turbulators then the air will remain in the IC longer and you will likely see more efficiency, however at the expense of pressure drop. Vice versa as well...The other thing with IC's that can cause a nasty pressure drop is bad end tank design and of course leaks.

 

If you had no pressure drop, you would get no residence time for the air in the IC.

You will always have a drop at the IC otherwise you'd get no cooling (since the air passes right through what is cooling it).

 

may we also add a friction coeffiecient effect to this, when the heat is transferred?

Calc physics was so long ago

 

whats average for a bolt on turbo kit?
1.5psi drop?

 

that sounds right to me!

 

cool, i asked because a while back someone posted a PWR vs. Spearco IC comparison. If i could remember correctly, one had more pressure drop than the other because of core design.