Radiators are required in nearly all motor vehicles to provide cooling for the vehicle's engine. Specifically, a coolant liquid is typically circulated between the engine and a radiator to dissipate heat created by the engine. However, the radiators found on some vehicles are not capable of sufficiently cooling the engine under certain use requirements and environmental conditions. This is particularly true of vehicles which have been modified to produce greater horsepower (i.e. large displacement, supercharging, turbocharging), engines that are operated at high rpm's for extended periods of time, and engines operated in warm environments.
Once integrated into a vehicle's design, radiator dimensions often become fixed and are typically not easily modifiable. The length and width of the radiator is often determined by the vehicle's body and the size of the radiator mounting area originally designed for a particular vehicle. Furthermore, the depth of the radiator, which could also be increased in order to obtain additional cooling capacity, can be limited by the space available between the core face, the cooling fan, and other engine ancillaries. Moreover, the radiator core supports and cross members found on most vehicles can provide additional obstacles for increasing the core depth, as the radiator tanks usually run along and between such supports. Also, the shapes and designs of the front ends of vehicles are also limited by the requirement that sufficient airflow across the radiator is needed and the radiator must be sufficiently large to provide proper cooling. These requirements can stifle creativity in the design of vehicles, particularly the designs of the front ends of vehicles.
The cooling capacity provided by a vehicle's radiator can be difficult or impossible to improve by lengthening, widening, or increasing the depth of the radiator. What is needed is a cooling system that can be adapted to work within the usable space that exists within the vehicle's body to provide additional cooling capacity.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds