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Air Intakes
An More information on Air intake and other products. or also known as cold air intake is a system made to cool down the air flow going into the car and by doing this – to increase the power of the internal-combustion engine. A secondary benefit of having this aftermarket part is the change of the appeal of your car. Air intakes make the car sound and look better. That’s why air intakes are made by many materials and into many colours.
Now let’s take a look at the history of this interesting component of the daily life of many people today. In the late 1980s K&N Engineering are known to be the first to offer this product and therefore they are called to be the creators of this aftermarket solution. The first air intake is made by plastic and it is consisted of a tube that intakes the air and a filter that happens to be a very necessary component which will be used in future. In the late 1990s many manufacturers begun working on their own designs of air intakes and that made these products available in the Japan domestic market and in many other places all around the world that are close to the final costumer.
The mechanics of the cold air intakes follows one very simple physical principal – the cold air has a higher density for a given volume. It is known that the combustion requires oxygen and the more air you give into the combustion process the more power you will get from it. Designers came to the solution that if they take the air from around the vehicle it will be cooler than the one in the combustion area and this will provide more oxygen. This is why there is an air intake tube that intakes the air from a place more distant to the one where the combustion process happens and where the heat is higher.
However the higher the resistance of the tube is the warmer the air will get because of the air-dynamical friction. To ensure little friction the designers sometimes increase the diameter of the air intake component and this provides more airflow with decreased friction. It is possible for the diameter to be increased but it can’t be increased too much because it will become too big. That’s why another strategy comes into play. By smoothing the internal side of the intake tube the turbulence of the air is reduced and with this – the air-dynamical friction is reduced. More direct route for the air could be possible in some cases and it could provide even greater results. Some manufacturers redesign their air filters too with the goal of reducing their air resistance.
The intake snorkel is an opening in which the intake of the air happens. In order to maintain sufficient airflow no matter of the current throttle the intake snorkel should be large enough and it is usually calculated for full throttle. There is no need for further automatic systems to enhance its parameters because even if less air is required it will still be no problem to have more. The intake opening should not be too large because sometimes efficiency could be lost due to this. If there are no other restrictions for the airflow the intake opening should be with the diameter of the tube. Some resistances of the system could enforce the need for bigger diameter of the intake opening but this should be properly calibrated. One good solution for the intake is the use of a heat shield. This part is designed to isolate the air filter from the rest of the engine compartment and enables the air to come in with lower temperature. Usually this air is taken from the front side of the engine bay.
Some manufacturers use Carbon fiber for air intakes and this provides a nice looking of the final product. The Carbon fiber has better temperature isolation parameters and in some cases it helps for the isolation of the air filter. It reduces the weight of the car too because it is less heavy than the metal. However the Carbon fiber is an expensive material. In many cases it gives just a better look to the car without actually doing much good.
One pretty extreme solution for air intake is called CCA or Complete Cold Air. It usually requires some modifications to the body of the car. The idea is that the air is taken from the hood scoop or wheel wells. The air in these places is with high velocity and that pressurizes it which rapidly reduces its temperature. This solution for air intake is called ram-air intake and it is applied for high performance vehicles like race cars or motorcycles.
When using air intakes there should be one word always staying into your mind when you drive in a rainy day. That word is "hydrolock". It happens when water is sucked through the air intake tube. It will most likely leave you from less to no horsepower at all. Water is not like air and it will not compress which could allow for it to raise its velocity. When the velocity reaches critical state the so called “hydraulic blow” appears and out the blue it breaks the connecting rods in the pistons.
You could just be careful and avoid raining days or maybe drive slower but usually it doesn’t help you much because when you are in a hurry you can’t always think about your car. After all it should work for you - not the opposite. That’s why some precautions are required.
The first precaution that comes in mind is not to drive in a rainy day at all but since that is usually not an option let’s take a look into some better solutions. The first is called hydro-shield and it is actually a simple piece of plastic that blocks all water from entering into the air filter. Today K&N offers one pretty nice solution too called “Drycharger” which is not too expensive and it could save you a lot of troubles.
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