The air-cooled system is an essential part of automotive history. This article unpacks the history of air-cooled engines, as well as the pros and cons.
In the Heat of the Moment
Even if you are not a fan of cars, you’ve must’ve heard of some form of the cooling system, even if it’s the car fan. While your car engine creates the power to motor through a combustion process and produces a lot of heat, this can cause a lot of damage to the engine if not removed correctly.
Down Memory Lane
Many manufacturers across Europe in the early 1930s tried various methods to cool the engine. The most common system used today is the water-cooled system. Even though popular cars like the Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 500 were common cars that used an air-cooled system.
Advantages of Air-Cooled Engines
The most admirable part of the air-cooled engine is the genius in its simplicity. It is characteristically low maintenance and inexpensive to build. Since it’s air-cooled, it doesn’t need the parts found with the water-cooled system. Like the radiator, water pump, and all the manufacturing costs that come with it. This also makes the car incredibly light, which makes it even more cost-efficient for it was light on fuel. The French Citroen 2CV was built during troubling times during the 1930s depression. It was designed to be a temporary solution while the economy struggled to recover. The Volkswagen Beetle had a similar journey just after World War 2. Mr. Ferdinand Porsche proposed the Beetle as the “people’s car” solution while the economy recovered. In fact, the Beetle was the most economical, reliable car produced on a massive scale.
How It Works
If you don’t know, the Beetle’s engine is not in the front but in the back of the car. While driving, the air is sucked into the cooling ducts by the fan. The air is then condensed and is channeled to flow over the oil compartment before exiting out the cooling ducts. The cooling system is used on the most known air-cooled engine, the VW Beetle. Air is drawn into the ducting by the fan and passes through an oil cooler before flowing over the cylinder heads and barrels. As convenient as air-cooled engines might appear, they lack features found with the water-cooled system. This includes a demisting system as well as an effective means of distributing heat in the car. For water-cooled engines, the hot water created is converted into hot air and is further distributed. Air-cooled engines either must create heat or extract the heat from the exhaust system.