Air Cooled vs Liquid Cooled Internal Combustion Engine
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Basics
- This page compares air cooled, and liquid cooled ICE's
Air Cooled
Advantages
- Simplicity (no coolant, no coolant pump + other parts in the system)
- Lower Mass
- Less Space Taken Up
Disadvantages
- May require design focused on this (cooling fins, airflow etc)
- In systems without active airflow, once not moving (ie car is at a stoplight) most cooling goes away
- Harder to intentionally move heat around (for cabin heating, Engine Heat Recovery etc
Liquid Cooled
Advantages
- Higher Amount of Heat Can Be Moved (higher potential power + possible lower emmisions)
- More consistant (assuming compared to passive air cooling)
- Makes moving heat around easier (pump fluid where heat is needed, then simple air-liquid heat exchanger)
- Allows for easier Intercoolers ?
Disadvantages
- Added complexity
- Needs some sort of cooling fluid
- If fluid is lost catastrophically, it can damage the engine
- Added mass + space taken up