Air flow through the vehicle
The expression "air flow through the vehicle" includes the air flow through the engine compartment and the air flow through the passenger compartment, which significantly
- Air flow through the engine compartment
influences the passenger comfort. Air flow through the engine compartment, on the other hand, ensures that heat is conducted away from thermally stressed parts and is therefore necessary to maintain the permissible operating temperatures of all assemblies in the engine compartment. Thus, the air flow through the vehicle forms the interface between aerodynamics and thermal management.
- Series-production radiator with probes for determining the volumetric flow of cooling air
The cooling air which flows through the engine compartment causes up to 15% of the total air resistance and therefore offers large potential for the aerodynamic optimization of the vehicle. In addition to the demand-based control of the amount of cooling air, the reduction of losses, e.g. by sealing the area around the radiator, can also efficiently contribute toward optimizing the air flow through the vehicle. FKFS has developed a method especially for this to determine the volumetric flow of cooling air at the vehicle-installed radiator.
Further aspects of air flow through the vehicle affect the channeling of cooling air over the brakes and safeguarding the heat removal from other thermally stressed parts, such as the final drive in high-performance vehicles.
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