COOLING SYSTEM

(A) Operation and construction of pressurized cooling system components.

 Pressure cap

 Water pump

 Types of thermostats

 Radiators

(B) Operation and construction of sealed cooling systems.

Functions of Cooling System

a. Preventing the engine from getting overheated.

b. Increase engine efficiency.

c. Provide heat for other devices such as interior.

d. The protection of a controlled combustion.

e. Ensuring that the lubrication does not become endangered.

Possible consequences of too little cooling

1. Overheating of the various parts of the engine. Parts of the engine can burn (burnt valves, hole in the
piston).

2. Knocking. The temperature in the combustion chamber becomes too high. The mixture burns too
early. The pistons, the cylinder head and the valves can get damaged.

3. Jamming. Moving parts swell too much. Because of this the pistons can get stuck in the cylinders.

4. Thickening of the motor oil. The motor oil becomes too hot. Lighter components of the oil evaporate.
In this way the oil becomes thicker.

Possible consequences of too much cooling

1. High fuel usage.

2. Internal pollution. By low temperatures more combustion residues and contamination stay behind in
the engine and adhere to various parts of the engine. They pollute the engine.

3. The condensation of fuel parts, among others, on the cylinder wall. Through the cylinder wall they get
into the lubrication oil. Because of this, various problems can occur:

i) The oil is attacked by the fuel parts and it will age faster.
ii) More mechanical wearing. Fuel parts which get into the oil make the oil thinner. They also rinse
parts off the oil film. As a consequence the lubricating effect will decrease and the wearing will
increase.

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 iii) More chemical wearing of the crankshaft and the connecting rod bearing. In the engine, fuel not
burnt in combustion is left behind. This non-burnt fuel is very corrosive toward certain parts. These
parts are attacked by the fuel.

TYPES OF COOLING SYSTEMS

There are two main types of cooling systems:-

1. Air cooling system.

2. Liquid cooling system

-Direct water-cooling system -pump or forced circulation system

-Thermo-siphon system

 The engine cooling media

-liquid -air

AIR COOLING SYSTEM

 This system depends upon the temperature difference between engine and atmosphere, total
radiating surface area and mass of cooling air supplied. Fins on the outer surface of the cylinder and
head increase the radiating surface area.

 Air cooling system is adopted in small horsepower engines like those of scooter, motor cycles, and
small cars and aircraft engines.

SINGLE CYLINDER AIR COOLED ENGINE

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HORIZONTALLY OPPOSED AIR COOLED ENGINE

Features of an air cooling system

 Air flow fans  Baffles

 Fan casings  Thermostatic control

 Fins to increase surface area

1. Air flow fans:-there are two types

-axial flow fan -radial flow fan

 The axial flow fan delivers air parallel to the fan spindle axis and it is bigger in design compared to
radial one.

 The radial flow fans or centrifugal fans have curved radial vanes fixed between two metal discs with
hole at the centre for air inlet. Air moves out of the impeller by centrifugal force.

 The fan is connected to the crankshaft and forms part of the magneto. In scooters, radial vanes are cast
on magneto flywheel itself.

 Air formed due to centrifugal action between the vanes and fan casting is discharged directly to the
cylinders

 The cowl over the cylinder or cylinders guides air to the fins on the engine cylinders.

 The baffles formed between fins direct airflow through them, picking up the heat and in the process
cooling the engine.

 Tapered fins are formed on the external surfaces of the cylinder and head in order to increase heat
transfer area. The fins are tapered because heat travels faster from thicker to thinner surfaces,
exposed to cooler air. Hotter engines surfaces have longer fins.

 Thermostat keeps the air intake area reduced when engine is cold; this helps the engine to reach the
operating temperature soon.

 At higher temperatures, air opening is increased automatically.

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  Air-cooled engines give a good amount of mechanical noise, as there is no medium to dampen it.

Advantages of air-cooled engines

1. Simple engine design hence low production cost.

2. Minimizes the operating costs and maintenance since there are no radiators, water jackets and pumps.

3. Air-cooled engines can operate at higher temperature than liquid cooled ones.

4. Operating temperatures are reached soon due to lesser warm-up time.

5. Air-cooled engines pose no problem during extreme hot and cold climatic conditions. Absence of water
disallows freezing.

Disadvantages of air-cooled engines

1. The system is suitable only for low horsepower engines.

2. Airflow fan absorbs large amount of power.

3. Mechanical noise cannot be suitably absorbed.

4. Large engines like four cylinder engine cannot be equally cooled causing temperature stresses and to
achieve this widely spaced cylinders are to be used increasing the overall length of the engine.

WATER/LIQUID COOLING SYSTEM

The liquid/water cooling system is divided into three:-

a. Direct water cooling system c. Pump or forced circulation

system
b. Thermo-siphon system
Direct water cooling system

 Such a system is formed in low horsepower diesel engine pumps used for irrigation purposes.

 Water flows down the tank by gravity to the engine and the resulting hot water is simply discharged
and not reused.

Thermo siphon system

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Coolant circulation diagram

Thermo siphon system

 The system works on thermo-siphon principle.

 The lighter hot water from the cylinder jackets rises up to flow through the radiator. Here the hot
water is cooled by natural flow of air around the radiator tubes. Water becomes denser and falls down
to be re-circulated.

 The radiator must be at a higher level than the cylinders. The head tank must be filled to the upper
level mark for satisfactory flow of coolant and the coolant is collected in the bottom tank.

 To make the flow unrestricted the passages of the system are made bigger.

 The thermo-siphon system is suitable for small and stationary engines.

Advantages of thermo-siphon system

1. More suitable than air-cooling for small multi-cylinder engines.

2. Water absorbs more heat per kg than any liquid and is cheaper.

3. Water-cools as well as dampens engine noise.

4. Fresh charge is initially heated to give better thermal efficiency.

5. Thermostat installed in the system controls engine temperature.

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Disadvantages of thermo-siphon system

1. Rate of heat transfer is low because of slower rate of circulation.

2. The water level must not get down the upper delivery pipe.

3. Circulation stops when the temperature difference falls below a marked value.

4. The radiator being at a higher level than cylinders, the engine becomes bulkier.

5. The method is suitable for small engines.

ASSIGNMENT

State advantages and disadvantages of air cooled engine.

Cooling system (water cooled)

Pressure cap

 It permits operating the engine at a higher temperature without boiling the coolant or losing it by
evaporation.

 It has two functions:

i. Allows atmospheric pressure to enter the cooling system.

ii. Prevents coolant escape at normal pressure.

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Operation

• Starting from cold, the header tank will contain some air above the water at a pressure approximately
that of the atmosphere.

• As water is heated it expands compressing the air, and if temperature rises sufficiently for boiling to
begin steam formed will raise the pressure still further.

• This suppresses boiling until pressure in the header tank rises sufficiently to lift pressure valve against
the spring loading where upon air and steam will be able to escape through the vent pipe.

• By this means the system may be operated without boiling at a temperature slightly below that
corresponding to the pressure needed to lift the valve.

• When engine is stopped and allowed to cool down, condensation of vapour and contraction of water
will reduce the pressure in the header tank. Should this pressure fall below atmospheric, there is risk of
hoses and even header tank collapsing. To prevent this, a vacuum valve is fitted in the centre of the
pressure valve and acting in the opposite direction i.e. it is enclosed by a spring assisted by positive
pressure inside header tank, but opens against the spring loading if header-tank pressure falls about
7KN/m² below atmospheric.

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 Water pump

Dismantled Water Pump

• It is bolted to the front end of the engine block and is driven by a vee belt getting its power from
crankshaft. Has got by pass opening having a thermostat placed in it to allow water to bypass the
cylinders when engine is cold.

• The water enters through the bottom radiator flexible hose and is discharged to the top of cylinders
with a centrifugal force. It travels through the water jackets with increased velocity.

Thermostats

• They prevents engine from getting overcooled under normal running conditions.

• It is located at the delivery end of the pump (between the head and radiator). When engine is started
from cold, it remains closed i.e. water pump circulates water through cylinder head and block only.
This allows engine to reach its optimum operating temperature fast. The thermostat starts opening
when hot water temperature is about 78°C and is fully open at 80°C. Thus, hot water is allowed to flow
through the radiator core and subsequently cooled.

• There are mainly of two types:

a. Bellows type b. Wax element

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Location of Thermostats

The Closed Positions of a Thermostat.

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 The Open Positions of a Thermostat.

(A) Bellows Type

 Has a thin brass bellows fitted to the frame at the bottom and to a valve at the top. It is filled with
ether, alcohol or acetone. The liquid vaporises at about 78° C. At lower temperature the poppet valve
remains sealed as bellows remain contracted. Water is prevented from flowing to the radiator. As
water gets hotter, the liquid turns into vapour due to heat and exerts pressure inside the bellows. The
valve starts opening at about 78° C and is fully open at 80° C . A pin located at the top allows air flow
from bellows while charging it with ether or alcohol.

 Wax in the bellows keeps it stretched to full length with the valve opened.

(B) Wax Element Type

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• Consists of a steel or brass container having wax in it. The wax is surrounded by a rubber sleeve. A
movable thrust pin has its conical end dipped into the wax and its upper end of the container which is
surrounded by hot water.

• As hot water temperature rises, the wax melts and forces the pin out of the wax container. The valve
along the container moves down against spring pressure. The spring pushes the container back to its
original position as the wax cools down.

Radiators

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• Provides large cooling surface area to the flowing hot water so that it may get cooled by the air stream.
Air stream is induced by air fan located behind the radiator.

• Down flow radiator consists of 3 parts:

a) Upper tank(header tank) made of thin steel or brass sheet metal.

b) A number of brass or copper tubes connects upper and lower tanks. These small diameter tubes
are surrounded by fins. This assembly is known as Matrix or Core.

c) Bottom tank.

• Hot water from cylinder jackets passes through thermostat to the upper tank and flows down to lower
tank. It losses heat in the thin walled tubes which have fins that provides a greater surface area to the
thin air stream. The water is now passed into the engine water jackets by the pump. Excess water or
steam is made to escape through an overflow pipe connected to the neck of the filter tube in the upper
tank.

THE AIR FANS

• The fan is mounted on the extension of water pump spindle, is driven by a v-belt passing over the
pulley, and gets power from the engine crankshaft.

FAN FUNCTIONS

 It draws large quantities of cool air through the radiator matrix thus increasing its efficiency by cooling
the hot circulating water.

 It throws fresh cool air over the entire engine, cooling it and in the process increasing the efficiency of
the whole cooling system.

 Fan must throw air only when required if not so it unnecessarily absorbs the engine power.

 When engine delivers maximum or during hill climbing at slow speeds, the engine gets overheated and
requires a fan.

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 ELECTRIC FAN

Sealed Cooling System

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