Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
For the traditional radiator placement,the lowest entropy approach is to utilize the ram pressure and thereby maximize the pressure differential available.Cooling systems which contribute no more than 2% to overall drag can be realized in this manner.
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I think 2% drag is still consuming more energy than the fan is consuming even if you take into account the inefficiencies of generating the electricity, however I'm making a lot of guesses to get to that and I'm not sure how much drag use of the fan could save, hence the question...
Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
Harvesting air from any other location implicates the addition of artificial pressure and starts to violate the second law of thermodynamics, as far as efficiency goes.
It's the tyranny of singularity in action.
If your fan ever fails,you've conceivably just trashed a $3,000 long block.
It's the primary driver for 'traditional' systems.
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Thankfully the designers of the car decided to remove that singularity and installed two fans which operate at different temperatures and off different sensors, plus I have a coolant over temperature alarm, plus if the temperature continues to rise the coolant pressure cap will release a cloud of steam and soon after that the low coolant alarm will illuminate. Only if you continue to drive after all that will you cause any damage.