When you go to a
dealership to look at used cars for sale, you may be wondering what
those series of “holes” are in some car hoods. While many believe
these hood
scoops
are primarily cosmetic, they actually have practical applications.
Cooling the Engine
The function of cooling
the engine falls onto the radiator, where coolant flows within its
tubes to release heat. Even with the radiator, however, the engine
can still get pretty hot and be prone to overheating. As the airspace
above the hood is often a high-pressure area while on the move, hood
scoops take advantage of this by leading the air into the engine for
a cold air intake.
Supercharging
The hood scoop also
works the same when paired up with a ram-air intake, which increases
the pressure of the incoming air. It may sound similar to a
turbocharger, but the ram-air-intake isn't installed in the exhaust
manifold but on the engine itself. The process of enriching the air
for the combustion mixture is called supercharging.
Intercooling
Turbocharged and
supercharged engines need to have an intercooler. Turbochargers and
superchargers may increase the pressure of air, but the downside is
that they lose their oxygen content. As oxygen is an ingredient in
combustion, hood scoops can be connected to an intercooler to cool
the compressed air.
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