The rotors in rotaries are cooled by oil which goes through an oil cooler before circulating again.
daryl14,
Nov 27, 10:31am
Ahh true. Don't know too much about that side of it meeself. I do know with some metals and welding procedures you have to cool them slowly. even by putting them in an oven and slowly bringing temp down.
Oil would also be drawn into the surface structure of the metal to a certain degree wouldn't it!
doggitt,
Nov 27, 10:41am
Also a lot more expensive.
meathead_timaru,
Nov 27, 11:25am
Yeah, that's how you 'blue' steel (not 'true' bluing though) which is a mild passivation and cosmetic process.
motorboy2011,
Nov 29, 6:23am
Correct but they are still primarily cooled with water, like a normal car. Some motorbikes are cooled with an air/oil combo.
smac,
Nov 29, 6:30am
Ever see the episode of mythbusters where they dipped their wet hands into molten lead! Freaky stuff. Because the water immediately turns to steam the lead doesn't touch your hand. If it's quickly removed the steam then disperses and no steam burn.
nzoomed,
Nov 29, 6:43am
water transfers heat quicker than oil.
NZTools,
Nov 29, 8:00am
Heres a simple test for you. Get a bucket of oil, a bucket of water and a bucket of petrol, all at room temperature. One feels warm, one feels cols and the last sucks the heat out of your hand so fast it goes numb al most instantly. Now for obvious reasons petrol is not the ideal coolant, but the demonstration will also show you why oil is a hopless coolant
sr2,
Nov 29, 8:09am
+1. As I said earlier water has a higher specific heat than oil.
daryl14,
Nov 29, 8:14am
The petrol will only be cold when you take your hand out and it starts evaporating. As I said earlier evaporative cooling is about the only thing that removes heat faster than pre cooled water.
I believe some race cars squirt water into the air flow of the radiator so that it will evaporate in the rad and provide that kind of cooling.
daryl14,
Nov 29, 8:14am
The petrol will only be cold when you take your hand out and it starts evaporating. As I said earlier evaporative cooling is about the only thing that removes heat faster than pre cooled water.
I believe some race cars squirt water or even alcohol into the air flow of the radiator so that it will evaporate in the rad and provide that kind of cooling.
sr2,
Nov 29, 1:27pm
I've run water squirters in brake cooling ducts and on intercoolers in a number of race cars. The trick is to use a spray nozzle that produces a very finely atomised spray, you get a significant improvement in cooling while using only a small amount of water.
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