Design & Analysis of Radiator
M.Dhanunjaiah
Assistant Professor,Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dhruva Institute of Engg and Tech Hyderabad (India)
ABSTRACT
Many researchers & scientist started working for making the arrangement to dissipate the heat of considerable
amount to avoid such bigger problem otherwise engine will seize. After a lot of research work on different types
of materials to conduct the heat efficiently they came to conclusion that copper is the best material having good
thermal conductivity of 385 watt/m-K can be used in the form of heat exchanger & finally they designed a
radiator called “COPPER RADIATOR”.
Attempts have been tried on different kinds of materials & finally found that Aluminium can solve our problem
& it will meet most of our objectives & requirements. So, finally it has been decided to make “Aluminium
Radiator” in place of Copper radiators which will give benefits in performance, reliability, cost, availability,
easy in handling & manufacturing.
The result obtained has been summarized as below: (a) Aluminium Radiator is able to transfer the heat of 27.95
KW same as Copper Radiator. This is the 1/3rd amount of heat generated in the engine to be dissipated. (b) Cost
Reduction of Amount Rs 1923/- it is about 49% saving against existing cost of Copper Radiator. (c) Weight
Reduction of 5 Kg, it is 52.08% reduction in weight due to use of Aluminium Radiator.(d) Reliability & Field
Performance is as per copper Radiator, there is no field failure within the warranty period in all types of
applications.
I. INTRODUCTION
Modern automotive internal combustion engines generate a huge amount of heat. This heat is created when the
gasoline and air mixture is ignited in the combustion chamber. This explosion causes the piston to be forced
down inside the engine, levering the connecting rods, and turning the crankshaft, creating power. Metal
temperatures around the combustion chamber can exceed 1000° F. In order to prevent the overheating of the
engine oil, cylinder walls, pistons, valves, and other components by these extreme temperatures, it is necessary
to effectively dispose of the heat. It has been stated that a typical average-sized vehicle can generate enough heat
to keep a 5-room house comfortably warm during zero degree weather (and I'm not talking about using the
exhaust pipe). Approximately 1/3 of the heat in combustion is converted into power to drive the vehicle and its
accessories.
Another 1/3 of the heat is carried off into the atmosphere through the exhaust system. The remaining 1/3 must
be removed from the engine by the cooling system. Modern automotive engines have basically dumped the Air
Cooled System for the more effective Liquid Cooled System to handle the job. In a liquid cooled system, heat is
carried away by the use of a heat absorbing coolant that circulates through the engine, especially around the
combustion chamber in the cylinder head area of the engine block. The coolant is pumped through the engine,
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then
after absorbing the heat of combustion is circulated to the radiator where the heat is transferred to the atmosphere.
The cooled liquid is then transferred back into the engine to repeat the process. Excessive cooling system capacity
can also be harmful, and may affect engine life and performance. You must understand that coolant temperatures
also affect oil temperatures and more engine wear occurs when the engine oil is below 190° F. An effective cooling
system controls the engine temperature within a
Specific range so that the engine stays within peak performance.
FiG.1 cooling system
II. COOLING SYSTEM TYPES
2.1 Air Cooling- Some older cars, motorcycle and very few modern cars, are air-cooled. Instead of circulating fluid
through the engine, the engine block is covered in aluminum fins that conduct the heat away from the cylinder. A
powerful fan forces air over these fins, which cools the engine by transferring the heat to the air.Since most cars are
liquid-cooled, we will focus on that system in this project.
2.2 Liquid Cooling System- Figer illustrates the cooling system components, and in these sections we'll talk about
each part of the system in more detail.
Fig.2 cooling system components
III. RADIATOR
Radiators are heat exchangers used for cooling internal combustion engines, mainly in automobiles but also in
piston-engine aircraft, railway locomotives or any similar use of such an engine.
Internal combustion engines are often cooled by circulating a liquid called engine coolent through the engineblock,
where it is heated, then through a radiator where it loses heat to the atmosphere, and then returned to the engine.
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Engine coolant is usually water-based, but may also be oil. It is common to employ a water pump to force the engine
coolant to circulate, and also for an axial fan to force air through the radiator.
IV. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
1. Studying a sub-module such as the cooling system in order to absorb its technology for the purpose of future
technology transfer in auto industry.
2. Testing how the redesigned cooling system will work due to design and material properties restriction using
finite element software.
3. Developing of a Finite-element model of a radiator to simulate different boundaries and loading
conditions.
4. Using the developed model to simulate and evaluate the thermal loading on the radiator.
V. METHODOLOGY
1. Measuring all the radiator’s dimensions and features using reverse engineering tool system.
2. Developing the radiator’s solid model using Solid Works software.
3. Developing a finite-element model using COSMOS Works, considered at different loading and boundary
conditions on the model.
4. Evaluate the radiator’s performance with Aluminum and Copper Finite-element models.
5. Modify the radiator tubes and fins design and evaluate its performance using Finite-element model.
VI. CSMOS WORK
COSMOS Works Designer is a software used for the definition, preparation and visualization of all the data related
to a numerical simulation. This data includes definition of the material, geometry, boundary conditions and other
parameters. All material and conditions are defined by the user. The meshing is done by the program itself once the
problem has been defined.
VII. RADIATOR SOLID MODEL DEVELOPMENT
The radiator consists of forty eight Aluminum tube, thin fins between the tubes and two plastic covers. The radiator
consists of forty five aluminum tube, fins between tubes, upper & lower cover had been made from plastic. The
overall dimensions of radiator assembly were obtained. Next, radiator disassembly is carried to measure and obtain
the actual dimensions to be used in solid model development. To increase the performance of computer during solid
model development, it is decided to reduce number of tubes to nine
Fig.3 radiator The Radiator Core
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It is made from Aluminum and consists of forty eight tubes. The general out dimensions of radiator core is : 17 *
323 * 422 mm
Fig.4 Radiator core model
Fig.5 Radiator (front view)
Fig.6 Radiator tube and fin model
VIII. FINITE-FINITE- ELEMENT ANALYSIS
Radiator tube and fins will be used through the finite-element analysis in this chapter. Aluminum Alloy: 1060 Alloy
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Specifications
Copper Alloy :
Specifications:
Description Value Units
Elastic modulus 1.10E+11 N/m^2
Poisson ratio 0.37
Shear modulus 4 E+10 N/m^2
Mass density 8900 Kg/m^3
Tensile strength 394380000 N/m^2
Yield strength 258646000 N/m^2
Thermal expansion
Coefficient
2.40E-005 /kelvin
Thermal conductivity 390 W/(m.K)
Specific heat 390 J/(kg.K)
IX. MESH GENERATION
Solid mesh has been generated using Tetrahedral elements.
Total number of Nodes = 1154165
Total number of Elements = 75974. The mesh has been done by COSMOS Works software.
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X. COMPUTATION
Steady State Analysis has been done using a desktop computer with specification: P4, CPU 3.2 GHz and 512 GB of
RAM. The computation running time is 30 minutes. Fig (25-27) shows the temperature for Aluminum and Copper
tube temperature. The figures show that the Cooper radiator has dropped the water temperature by (3.56 %.)
comparing with the Aluminum radiator. Fig.(28) shows the contour of temperature distribution in the Aluminum
radiator, The figure demonstrate that the temperatures is higher in the upper section of the radiator and lower in the
bottom section due to the water flow and the effect of forced convection induced by the fan. Fig.(27) shows that the
Copper radiator is more efficient than aluminum one. Since, it resulted in reducing the radiator water temperature by
3.56% .It’s recommended to use Copper radiator rather than Aluminum radiator due to higher temperature drop
Fig.7 Alu and copper heat distribution Fig.8 Alu Temp Distribution
Fig.9 Copper Temp Distribution
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X. IMPROVING THE RADIATOR ALUMINUM MODEL
In current investigation, the depth of radiator tube is increased from 20 mm to 40 mm to increase the area which will
increase the rate of heat transfer to the air as well .The dimensions are shown in figure (30).
Material: Aluminum Alloy
Fig.10 improve model heat distribution
The improved design has reduced the maximum temperature by 3.9 % as shown in fig.(31)
XI. RESULTS AND DISCUSION
The reverse engineering has been implemented throughout the present work, in order to achieve design analysis and
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improvement for the car radiator element.
A comparison has been carried out in chapter three between Aluminum and Copper alloy radiator models.
It is found that Copper radiator is more efficient when compared with the Aluminum radiator due to higher
temperature drop (3.56 %.). However, The Aluminum radiator is much cheaper.
A new design of the radiator has been proposed. The radiator dimensions were changed by increasing the width
from 20 mm to 40 mm. And this change has reduced in reducing the maximum temperature by 3.9 %.
XII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The efficiency of the internal combustion engine cooling system depends mainly on the performance of its units.
The main unit in this system is the radiator.
It is reported that Copper radiator is more efficient when compared with the Aluminum radiator due to higher
temperature drop. However, The Aluminum radiator is much cheaper.
It’s recommended to use Copper radiator rather than Aluminum radiator due to higher temperature drop .Aluminum
radiator is recommended due to lower cost.
Also the modified design is preferred due to low temperature where as the old model is preferred due to low cost and
low weight.
REFRENCES
[1]. William H. C. and Donald L. A, 1981. Automotive Fuel, Lubricating, and Cooling Systems.
[2]. Randy Rundle, 1999. Automotive Cooling System Basics.
[3]. Ray T. Bohacz, 2007. Engine Cooling Systems
[4]. Yunus A. Cengel and Robert H. Turner, 2005. Fundamental of Thermal-Fluid Sciences.
[5] Daihatsu Sirion Owner Manual, 2008.
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