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Since the 1960’s turbocharged engines have been moving people on the roads faster and faster. It is the engine that powers F1 cars as well as many of the ones that we see on the road from day-to-day. Turbocharged engines have a list of benefits that attract people to purchase them. Some of these include higher horsepower and lower emission for those concerned with the environment. 

Turbocharged engines are designed in a specific way to give the car an extra boost. Although the design is not perfect, it is based off facts proven in physics that allows the car to create more horsepower meaning more speed.

How a Turbocharger Works

For those who are unsure of how a turbocharger works, here is a basic overview:

Wasted exhaust gases enter the turbocharger at high pressure through an inlet port. From here, as the air passes through the turbine inside spinning it which also spins the compressor attached. This draws in large quantities of air which are compressed and pass out the of the outlet port. The more pressure created means the bigger the boost is.

The Turbo Blanket

Due to generating such a high heat, a turbocharger can cause drastic damage to a car above and below the hood.

A solution has been created to not only decrease damage but increase the performance of your car. This is called the Turbo Blanket. Depending on the type purchased, turbo blankets are created from a number of materials such as:

• Heat-resistant fabrics
• Flexible metal
• Volcanic rocks

Turbo Blankets come in different sizes to accommodate the wide variety of dimensions that turbochargers come in. The Turbo Blankets purpose is to keep the heat where it is supposed to be, but how do you know if it works? There have been multiple tests conducted on the efficiency of the product to understand if it is worth buying.

The Effect of a Turbo Blanket

Once you have placed the Turbo Blanket over your turbocharger, several positive effects take place. These were proven through a number of tests and university level research conducted by:

• Steffen Hans Bickle at the University of Texas at Austin
• Graduate Mechanical Engineer and YouTuber “Engineering Explained”
• Sports Car Connoisseur and Youtuber “Rob Dahm”

In all of the experiments, the core purpose of the Turbo Blanket is tested. If it is effective, the heat within the turbocharger should be higher with the Turbo Blanket on. This also means that the area around the turbocharger will be a cooler temperature due to the heat being insulated and not released.

Throughout all three tests, there were dramatic heat differences inside and throughout the car. They tested parts such as the top and side of the turbocharger, the intake air, the exhaust gas, exhaust pipe and more.

The Results

Below are the results of the tests conducted:

• The top of the turbocharger with the Turbo Blanket on was 149ºC hotter.
• The side of the turbocharger with the Turbo Blanket on was 225ºC hotter.
• The exhaust pipe with Turbo Blanket on was 113ºC hotter.
• The exhaust gas post-turbo with Turbo Blanket on was 4.7ºC hotter.
• The hood of the car dropped from 133ºC to 65ºC with the Turbo Blanket on.
• The oil exit with Turbo Blanket on was 0.2ºC cooler.

These results show the considerable difference between using a Turbo Blanket on a Turbocharger and not utilising one. The Blanket ensures the engine is running more efficiently as the temperature and pressure are increased leading to the higher horsepower. It also secures the paint on the hood of your car, as well as its structure.

For many, a question may be how does the Turbo Blanket affect the oil temperature? That question is answered within the research. With only a 0.2ºC difference, the Turbo Blanket does not have much effect on the oil at all. The only recommendation would be to let your car run for a little longer after a drive to let the oil move out.

If you have a Turbocharger, it may be time to consider buying a Turbo Blanket to increase performance and protect your car. For more information on related heat protection products, please visit Kool Wrap.

We are often asked for a solution to a heat problem and the first thing we think about is whether the problem is caused by conduction, convection or radiation.

We will try to keep this simple.

• Conduction is the transfer of heat energy by direct contact.

• Convection is caused by heat transfer within a fluid (includes liquids and gases etc.)

• Radiation is when heat is transferred without any physical contact (ie Sun rays)

The actual answer is usually a combination of all three, but one heat transfer method is usually the dominant factor.

Conduction

Conduction is the direct transfer of heat through matter caused by the temperature differential between the two objects. If we have a cast iron exhaust manifold and we attach an aluminium heat shield directly to that manifold, the heat energy will flow into the aluminium heat shield until they are approximately the same temperature.

In this example, the heat shield is ineffective.

To protect something from heat conduction, we need to put a barrier between the hot object and the object we are trying to keep cool.

For instance, we could mount our aluminium heat shield any distance away from the hot exhaust manifold with spacers. The heat shield now feels zero conducted heat, but will still feel radiated heat.

Another example of this would be placing your hand against a hot oven glass door. You would probably burn your hand. Move your hand away from the door by 20mm and although you would still feel radiated heat, there would be no more conduction.

Then place an aluminium panel half way between the hot glass oven door and your hand and you will feel very little heat. The aluminium panel has blocked radiated heat.

Convection

As mentioned above, convection is heat transfer by actual movement of matter through a fluid. In this definition fluids include liquids and gases.

An electric fan heater is a good example of convection. The fan forces air to flow over a hot electrical element. The air is heated by the element and then blown out into the room.

Another example is a car radiator. Water flows through an engine and is heated by the hot engine block. This heated water is pumped through the radiator. The radiator is cooled by the flow of cold air through the front of the car. The hot water flows through the cool radiator and heat transfers from the water to the radiator. The warming radiator then passes that transferred heat back to the air as it flows through the radiator.

In the heat protection industry, we may choose to divert the flow of hot fluids (air or water) away from the object that we are trying to keep cool.

Radiation

Radiation occurs where heat is transferred as electromagnetic waves. If you hold your hand up to the sun, or next to a hot exhaust manifold (ignoring air flow) you will feel the radiant energy coming from the sun or hot object.

We can protect items from radiant heat by placing a barrier between the radiant heat source and the item we want to protect.

The Art of Insulation

Our job at Kool Wrap is to project operators and heat sensitive components from heat transferred by Conduction, Convection and Radiation.

One of the most used insulators is actually air.

If we consider roof insulation, we use a variety of products such as fibreglass batts to create a layer of trapped air pockets.

The technical reason why air is a poor conductor of heat is that the air molecules are not in continuous contact with each other. The air pockets in fibreglass or bubble wrap insulation, cannot move around and transfer heat.

Remember that heat will only transfer to something that is cooler. If the heated air is prevented from touching cooler air, then the heat cannot be transferred. If we are using the ceiling insulation example, in summer, the heated air inside your roof, cannot transfer heat through the insulation.

In an industrial or automotive setting, we can use fibreglass tape or lagging to wrap around an exhaust pipe and that tape will contain thousands of tiny air pockets that can help prevent the heat transfer process.

If you have questions about your heat transfer problems, call Kool Wrap today and we will help you to find a solution.

We have had some phone calls recently from customers that have experienced heat damage to their kitchen cabinets caused by a hot oven.

One customer said “My under bench 90cm Whirlpool oven (2 yrs old) is burning the cabinet which is to the left of it. The vinyl wrap has warped and there is a permanent yellow stain”.

There are a combination of factors that can cause an oven’s excess heat to damage to your kitchen cupboards and cabinets.

Insufficient air gap between the oven and the cabinets:

• Insufficient air gap between the oven and the cabinets
• Insufficient air ventilation between the oven and the cabinets
• Insufficient heat insulation within the ovens casing or body
• Heat sensitive cabinet coatings such as vinyl wrapped cabinetry

Kool Wrap is a specialist heat protection products company and we have developed a heat insulation kit that can help protect your valuable kitchen.

The Kool Wrap Oven Cavity Heat Protection Kit consists of 2 sheets of heat insulating fibreglass with a self adhesive layer on the back. Simply peel off the back paper and stick to the left and right sides of the oven cavity.

The sheets also have an outer layer of heat reflective aluminium foil to reflect damaging heat radiation back away from your cabinetry. This foil can withstand temperatures up to 660°C, far higher than a typical oven.

The sheet material can be cut with scissors and should take no more than 5-10 minutes to install.

Click HERE to view the kit.