horizontal vs vertical flow Intercoolers?
 

In doing more reading, etc I wanted to separated vendor driven propaganda from real world data.

So most of us have seen the APS site touting the benefits of a vertical flow IC.
http://www.airpowersystems.com/350z/...ntercooler.htm

I always thought ya ya whatever.

So lets see its a 9x25x3.5" = 787.5 in^3 compared to a standard 12x24x3 = 864 in^3 horizontal FMIC found on many of the turbo kits

Similar cubic area so cooling should be the same.

But looking at Bell's website made me wonder..
http://www.bellintercoolers.com/pages/AACore.html
So this time the comparison is between CFMs
Vert: 1607
Hori: 484

Interesting. almost 4x the CFMs for the same area. To match that same CFM on a horizontal you would need a 40x24x3" core :eek: Even if you want to a 3.5" like i think the GTM/Greddy kit is, you'd need a 34x24x3.5" for the same CFM

so I guess, do CFMs contribute as much to cooling as does physical size? And all else equal, would you want to gain that extra volume by adding thickness or frontal area (more space limited in that option)

A vertical flow intercooler is definitly more effecient. They delta T of the air temp and the intercooler material temp drops dramatically in the first 4-6 inches. After that the intercooler is taking less and less calories out of the air per inch of travel in the intercooler. With that being said, you are better flowing a given amount of air through more short rows than fewer long rows. The end result would also be less pressure drop across the core.

Gerhard and Corky at Bell are very knowledgeable.

Hope that helps.

+1

"Maximum Boost" by Corky Bell has an entire chapter on intercooler design. What Quamen said is spot on.

I have done a ton of research before changing the desighn of my turbo kit. From Googling to talking to some of the big core manufacturers. One thing that was consistant in the research on intercoolers was that the vertical flow cores will ALWAYS outflow/perform the traditional horizontal flow intercoolers.

So I chose the vertical.

The one I chose will support 1492 CFM's 663HP-1002HP at max efficiency 1.5psi pressure drop witha
25x6x3.5 core. The nice thing with vertical flow intercoolers is the core size. In my case (and many others) one is able to have the entire core exposed to the oncomming air. If you look at some of the big turbo kits out there, only half of the core is exposed. These guys use Spearco cores, and I didn't even have to relocate the airbag sensor.


http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...D/S1031610.jpg

Bumper on:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...D/S1031603.jpg

In most cases and for most applications, IC flow design is picked based on amount of space, and where the piping will need to run. And for most of our applications, we don't even come close to using the full potential of the core.
For most of US, I would say pressure drop across the core is more important than cooling and cfm flow (unless you are in AZ, parts of FL, TX, etc).
Remember the actual temp drop the core can supply, is still fully based on the ambient air temp. So if its 110 out by you all the time, you are prolly not going to see as "efficient" a temp drop as for someone who is in 60 degree temps all the time...

just thinkin out loud.
Tom

of course, but with a choice, why wouldnt you go with a vertical flow IC. I tried to find some actual AIT data but couldnt.

Shops throw around "well this IC supports up to blah blah HP". I;m sure TT35forT will chime in with some equations :)

Air will pass though a vertical core much quicker then a horizontal core so this should be taken into consideration.However,if you need to move a tremendous amount of CFM then the vertical flow intercoolers cannot be suprassed. In most cases, this isnt a major factor though.

Facing facts, it has been statistically proven that an intercooler with many short rows will flow more at a lower pressure drop and remove more calories from the air than similar sized intercooler with a few long rows. On the z I don't think it's a real big deal, but on a car with very limited space this design consideration could make the difference.

If it were on a supercaharger, I would always choose a vertical flow intercooler to reduce pressure loss since it can't make up for it like a turbo can.

Also, in my opinion an intercooler like what Tim runs on SFR TT's and the APS TT are very well engineered IC's in comparison to say Greddy.

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/s...orbuild043.jpg

The APS IC fits the Stillen series 2 front very nicely, almost a full exposure.