ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM

Did you ever think what would be the temperature of the burning gases in the engine cylinder?? Don’t you know!. Let me tell you ……it can  reaches up to 1500 to 2000°C, which is above the melting point of the material of the cylinder body and head of the engine. (Platinum, a metal which has one of the highest melting points, melts at 1750 °C, iron at 1530°C and aluminium at 657°C). 

Therefore, if the heat is not dissipated, it would result in the failure of the cylinder material. So for this reason we need a cooling system to cool down the temperature of cylinder body and engine head.

Now what’s a cooling system?? It’s pretty simple : a system, which controls the temperature of the engine is known as cooling system.

understanding the need for cooling system much more:

Basically a car engine is an internal combustion engine where power is generated through expansion of high temperature and high pressure gases. So a lot of heat is generated due to the combustion gases and the friction of mechanical parts.

Where part of the heat produced by the combustion is used to push the piston downwards and there by producing necessary power. Some of the heat is carried away by the exhaust gases through the exhaust valve. And rest of the remaining heat is absorbed by engine itself which increases its temperature. So for optimal performance these excess heat should be removed from the engine and kept at operating temperature.

Requirements for an efficient cooling system:

1. It must be  capable of removing only about 30% of the heat generated in the combustion chamber because too much removal of heat results in low thermal efficiency of the engine.                                    2. It should remove heat at a fast rate when the engine is hot. During the starting of the engine, the rate of cooling should be low so that different working parts  can reach their operating temperature in a short time.

Now how many types of cooling systems are there??

Actually there are 2 types of cooling systems. They are 

1. Air cooling system.                                         2. Liquid cooling system.

Air cooling systems are found on old cars. Modern automobiles and trucks use liquid cooled systems. Now a days we can seldomly witness air cooling systems.