Air-cooled engines

An air-cooled engine is a type of engine that uses air to dissipate heat generated during operation, rather than liquid coolant. It is typically lighter than a water-cooled engine of the same size and has a simpler design. One of the main benefits of an air-cooled engine is its relative simplicity compared to liquid-cooled engines.From: A Practical Approach to Motor Vehicle Engineering and Maintenance [2019], Modelling and thermal analysis of air-cooling system with fin pitch in IC engines [2020]

Force-System Resultants and Equilibrium

View Chapter

Purchase Book

Published in Richard C. Dorf, The Engineering Handbook, 2018

Russell C. Hibbeler

Air-cooled engines have finned external surfaces on their pistons and heads to improve heat transfer and fans to circulate air over the engine. The larger passages needed for air require that the cylinders be more widely spaced than for liquid-cooled engines. While most air-cooled engines are small, many large aircraft engines have been air cooled.

Modelling and thermal analysis of air-cooling system with fin pitch in IC engines

View Article

Journal Information

Published in International Journal of Ambient Energy, 2020

I. Vinoth Kanna

One of the most significant advantages of an air-cooled engine lies in its relative simplicity in relation to its liquid-cooled counterparts. The cooling fins are cast directly onto the cylinder head at the time of manufacture, while liquid-cooled (Walker 1991) engines use thin coolant pockets or channels machined into the cylinder head. Accessing any part of an air-cooled engine can be done directly without having to drain coolant or remove radiators (Thulasi and Rajagopal 2013).

Air-cooled engines

Explore chapters and articles related to this topic

Force-System Resultants and Equilibrium

Modelling and thermal analysis of air-cooling system with fin pitch in IC engines