Industry News

How to understand how a radiator works

2023-11-16

Heat away from the radiator. This process depends on the temperature gradient of the radiator and its operating fluid - most commonly air or a non-conductive liquid (such as water). The working fluid passes through the surface of the thermal radiator and uses thermal diffusion and convection to carry heat away from the surface and into the surrounding environment. This stage again relies on the temperature gradient to remove heat from the radiator.


Therefore, if the ambient temperature is not lower than the radiator, convection and subsequent heat dissipation will not occur. This step is also where the total surface area of the radiator becomes most favorable. The large surface area provides an increased area for thermal diffusion and convection to occur.


Active and passive radiators Radiators are most commonly used in active, passive, or hybrid configurations. Passive radiators rely on natural convection, which means using only the buoyancy of hot air to generate airflow throughout the radiator system. These systems are advantageous because they do not require an auxiliary power supply or control system to remove heat from the system. However, passive radiators are not as effective as active radiators in transferring heat from the system.


- Active radiators use forced air to increase the flow of fluid through hot areas. Forced air is often generated by the movement of fans, blowers, or even entire objects - for example, the engine of a motorcycle is cooled by air along a heat sink designed in the engine. An example of a fan producing forced air through a radiator is a fan in your personal computer that turns on after your computer gets hot. The fan forces air through the radiator, which allows more unheated air to pass through the radiator surface, thereby increasing the overall thermal gradient of the radiator system and allowing more heat to leave the entire system.


1: pure copper (pure aluminum) heat conduction: This way of heat conduction efficiency is relatively low, but the structure is simple, the price is cheap, many original radiators are in this way.


2: Heat conduction copper tube: or now the most commonly used way, its copper tube is hollow, which is filled with a heat conduction liquid, when the temperature rises, the liquid at the bottom of the copper tube evaporates to absorb heat, the heat is transferred to the heat fin after the temperature is reduced to condense into a liquid, flow back to the bottom of the copper tube, so the cycle, the heat conduction efficiency is very high, so most of the radiator is now in this way.


3: Water: that is, we often say that water cooling is divided into integrated water cooling and split water cooling, it is the water to take away the heat of the CPU, and then the high temperature water is blown away by the fan when it passes the curved cold row (the structure is similar to the radiator at home), and becomes cold water and circulates again.


The efficiency of heat transfer: the efficiency of heat transfer is the key to heat dissipation, and there are four factors affecting the efficiency of heat transfer.


1: The number and thickness of heat pipes: the more the number of heat pipes, the better, generally 2, 4 enough, 6 and above is a high-end radiator; The thicker the copper pipe, the better.


Radiator, we hear more every day, but also understand. But do not know whether the heat pipe radiator has also heard of it? How does the heat pipe radiator work? This article collected some information to share with you, I hope it will be helpful to you.


Principle of heat pipe radiator


The heat pipe radiator is a kind of artificial component with excellent heat transfer. The commonly used heat pipe is composed of three parts: the main body is a closed metal tube, there is a small amount of working medium and capillary structure inside, and the air and other debris in the tube must be excluded. Heat pipes operate using three physics principles:


(1) In the vacuum state, the boiling point of the liquid is reduced;


(2) The latent heat of vaporization of the same substance is much higher than the sensible heat;


⑶ The suction force of the porous capillary structure on the liquid can make the liquid flow.




The working principle of the radiator is that the heat is generated from the heating equipment and transmitted to the radiator and then to the air and other substances, in which the heat is transferred through the heat transfer in thermodynamics. The transfer of heat mainly includes heat conduction, heat convection and heat radiation, such as when the material is in contact with the material as long as there is a temperature difference, heat transfer will occur until the temperature is the same everywhere.


A sheet of metal used to dissipate heat, usually installed on the radiator of electronic devices or machines such as cars. It can transfer heat from the heat source to the air by increasing the surface area to achieve the purpose of heat dissipation.


1. What are heat sinks


A heat sink is a sheet-like object made of metal with many small wing-like structures that can effectively increase its surface area and improve the efficiency of heat dissipation. It is usually used in devices such as radiators and fans to help regulate the temperature.


2. Working principle of heat sink


The working principle of the heat sink is based on the principle of heat transfer, that is, the transfer of heat must rely on thermal materials and heat transfer media. The heat sink itself is made of heat-conducting metal, transferring the heat source attached to the radiator or other cooling device to it, and transferring the heat to the environment through a high surface area. At the same time, at the right speed, the heat transfer can be accelerated by forcing the gas through the heat sink.


3. Type of heat sink


There are many types of heat sinks, mainly classified according to shape, material and structure. From the shape point of view, the heat sink can be divided into rectangular, square, regular polygon and other shapes; In terms of materials, aluminum, copper, magnesium alloy and other materials with good thermal conductivity can be used; From a structural point of view, high-quality heat sinks are usually designed in the form of fins, bumps and other specialized forms to better increase the heat dissipation area and improve heat dissipation efficiency.


4. Function of heat sink


Heat sinks are widely used in a variety of electronic devices that need heat dissipation, automotive engines and other mechanical equipment, such as: CPU radiator, GPU radiator, LED lamp radiator, automotive radiator and so on. Its main function is to diffuse the generated heat through the surface of the heat sink to the external environment, to ensure that the temperature of the equipment or parts is not too high during normal operation, and also to help extend the service life of the equipment.


A typical water-cooled cooling system must have the following components: water cooling block, circulating fluid, pump, pipe, and water tank or heat exchanger. A water-cooled block is a metal block with an internal water channel, made of copper or aluminum, that comes into contact with the CPU and will absorb heat from the CPU. The circulating liquid flows in the circulating pipeline by the action of the pump, and if the liquid is water, it is what we commonly call the water cooling system. The liquid that has absorbed the heat of the CPU will flow away from the water-cooled block on the CPU, and the new cold circulating liquid will continue to absorb the heat of the CPU. The water pipe is connected with the pump, the water cooling block and the water tank, and its function is to let the circulating liquid circulate in a closed channel without leakage, so that the liquid cooling cooling system can work normally. The water tank is used to store circulating liquid, and the heat exchanger is a device similar to the heat sink. The circulating liquid transfers heat to the heat sink with a large surface area, and the fan on the heat sink takes away the heat from the incoming air.


The essence of water-cooled heat dissipation and air-cooled heat dissipation is the same, but the water cooling uses the circulating liquid to transfer the heat of the CPU from the water-cooled block to the heat exchanger and then distribute it, replacing the homogeneous metal or heat pipe of air-cooled heat dissipation, of which the heat exchanger part is almost a copy of the air-cooled radiator. The water-cooled cooling system has two characteristics: balanced CPU heat and low noise operation. Because the specific heat capacity of water is very large, so it can absorb a lot of heat and keep the temperature will not change significantly, the temperature of the CPU in the water cooling system can be well controlled, the sudden operation will not cause a large change in the internal temperature of the CPU, because the surface area of the heat exchanger is very large, so only the low speed fan is needed to heat it can play a good effect. Therefore, water cooling is mostly with a low speed fan, in addition, the working noise of the pump is generally not very obvious, so the overall cooling system is very quiet compared with the air-cooled system.


Through the study of reference materials for small series of automobiles, it is found that most of the electric vehicle radiators are basically aluminum alloy materials, and the water pipes and heat sinks are mostly aluminum. The aluminum water pipe is made into a flat shape, the fins are corrugated, emphasizing the heat dissipation performance, the installation direction is perpendicular to the direction of air flow, and the wind resistance is small to maximize the cooling efficiency. The antifreeze liquid flows into the radiator core, and the air body flows out from the radiator core. The hot antifreeze becomes cold because it radiates heat to the air body, and the cold air body becomes warm because it absorbs the heat radiated by the antifreeze, and realizes heat dissipation through the whole cycle.


Because the electric vehicle radiator is an important part of the automobile water-cooled engine cooling system, and with the development of China's automobile market more and more extensive, the electric vehicle radiator is also developing in the direction of lightweight, cost-effective and convenient. At present, the focus of the domestic electric vehicle radiator includes DC type and cross-flow type. The structure of the heater core can be divided into two types: tube plate type and tube belt type. The core of a tubular radiator consists of a number of thin cooling tubes and fins. The cooling tube has a flat circular cross-section to reduce air resistance and increase the heat transfer area.


Radiator working principle introduction: Function


When you start a car, the heat generated is enough to destroy the car itself. As a result, a cooling system is installed on the car to protect it from damage and keep the engine in a moderate temperature range. The radiator is a key component of the cooling system, whose purpose is to protect the engine from damage caused by overheating. The principle of the radiator is to reduce the temperature of the engine antifreeze in the radiator through the cold air body. The heat sink consists of two key structures, a heat sink composed of small flat tubes and an overflow trough (located on the top, bottom or sides of the heat sink).


The role of the automobile radiator in the automobile equipment is not necessarily just as simple as heat dissipation. Here to remind you, when cleaning the condenser cover of the water tank with a high-pressure water gun, do not rush to the engine. Because all cars currently use electronic fuel injection systems, there are engine computers, transmission computers, ignition computers, and various sensors and actuators in the engine compartment. If washed with a high pressure water gun, there may be a short circuit, which may damage the engine computer.

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