So would there be any IAT benefit to wrapping the CAI in aerogel to minimize heat transfer?
The 12" X 24" would cover almost all of the Needswings single CAI for $55.
Les, you would need to go double for a DCAI.
I may do this before race season.

BuyAerogel.com | Pyrogel® XT Blanket

 

Is this really worth destroying the nice tubes?

 

Been there, done that : mixed results.
I blew $20 at Home Depot for 3/8" sticky foam with shiny aluminum covering, and a roll of aluminum insulation tape.

1. looks like s**t.
2. hard to keep clean.
3. it does work to a certain extent, but ONLY in delaying the time it takes the IAT to reach the point it would have without the wrap, also it then tends to keep the IAT higher longer during cooldown.
4. Conclusion : not worth the effort.

I have also thought about wrapping the CAI in 1/4 or 3/8 aluminum tubing and using a small pump like the REST pump along with a small water to air radiator. Wrap this in thin aluminum reflective insulation and it "might" keep the CAI at near ambient.
I have been advised by reliable members that this project would also be a waste of time ........

 

Aerogel seems quite different to me as a superior high temp insulator - and cheap enough to give it a whirl. Speaking of which - has anyone ever tested cooling of the actual fuel/fuel distribution system?

 

Mine have been wrapped for a couple of years now. As already noted, it takes longer to reach normal IAT's. The wrap holds in heat so they take longer to cool down after the car is turned off.

Les

 

What is the material they are wrapped with? thanks

 

This type of insulation. Velcro Heat Shield Sleeve | Heatshield Products
Currently I have them painted with a rubberized paint, wrapped with header wrap with the heat wrap on the outside.

Les

 

From the Aerogel wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel"Aerogels are good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_insulation because they almost nullify two of the three methods of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer (convection, conduction, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation). They are good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_conduction insulators because they are composed almost entirely from a gas, and gases are very poor heat conductors. Silica aerogel is especially good because silica is also a poor conductor of heat (a metallic aerogel, on the other hand, would be less effective). They are good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convective_heat_transfer inhibitors because air cannot circulate through the lattice. Aerogels are poor radiative insulators because infrared radiation (which transfers heat) passes right through silica aerogel."

So since this doesn't conduct heat well it will keep the hot air away from the intake and hopefully not trap any in. There might be something to this.

 

+1^^^^^^^^^^^^
Slows the heating rate, slows the cooling rate. Simple.

 

another approach might be to use a thermal camera or IR laser to identify hot spot sources under the hood and to wrap THEM with aerogel...? Here is some info I've found re:automotive uses of aerogel from a cursory google sweep. cheers!

NASA insulation keeps Corvette cool (from SAE article blurb at http://tinyurl.com/n6u67gs )

.... "Recently, the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray became the first production vehicle to use an aerogel as a lightweight thermal insulation, in this case a sprayed-on coating inside the car’s transmission tunnel. The aerogel, supplied by PaCor Inc. to Tier 1 interior vendors IAC and HP Pelzer, is unmatched in its performance but isn’t inexpensive, said Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter."

aerogel heatshield with heat rejection stats near bottom of product description:
M7 DFIC Heatshield - www.autopart-performance.com

M7 TESTING:
Control Surface: Aluminum surface heated to a final temp of 440° F.

Test Thermometer: Dwyer Instruments IR 450 non-contact thermometer.

M7 Aerogel Heatshield: After 5 minutes there were no appreciable changes in temperature at the upper surface. So we left the mat baking on the control surface for another 30 minutes. The results: 135° F on the top surface and 440° F on the bottom of the mat! Now that's heat rejection.

three other items were 1) an Aerogel shielded CAI for an M7 (no data given) 2) a fuel rail insulated with Aerogel on a highly mutated VW Golf (no stats) 3) mention of aerogel exhaust heat shielding near turbos to protect adjacent sensitive systems.

 

The best insulator is air. The biggest hurdle with our intakes is the proximity to the cylinder heads and lack of a vented hood. On mine, the tubes are almost touching the front coil packs. After shutting off the engine the radiant heat gets through the material regardless of all the testing claiming otherwise. I wrapped my headers with the best wrap I could find with no change. As a matter of fact, every single thing I've done to cool the intake charge has had the same double effect. Longer to get up to temperature, reaches the same temperature as before, much longer to cool down. This includes the thermal coating on the intake manifolds, thermal coating on the I/C, the wrapping of the I/C in addition to the thermal coating, the wrapping of the headers, the wrapping of the intake tubes, etc. In other words it'll help a bit for a couple of runs down the dragstrip. Extend your cool down times between runs. Thats about it IMO and experience.

Les

 

I understand and wonder the following

Moving air is the underhood coolant medium and works because air is a good conductor. Stationary underhood air is the problem when the car is at rest after a run since the air (and IR radiation) transmit heat from the engine's hot spots to the engine's air and fuel pathways. Since the engine radiates heat to the underhood components, Perhaps a better strategy is to aerogel insulate the engine hot spots that contribute unwanted heat to the CAI intake tube(s) and intake pathways in general. The effect you describe of slow cool down times in your insulated CAI after runs could be a converted to a benefit if the engine's hot spots are insulted (also/instead) to keep the heat inside the engine rather that heating things up under the hood. I wonder further if it is possible to force the post-radiator-heated air below the car when at rest - perhaps a "window blind" like vane system that forces the hot air under the car and away from the engine bay between runs/when the car is stopped (even I think this might be silly)

 

Based on the graph below, it seems that the CAI is not the place to attack the problem, but rather the throttle body is (at least the next) weak heat link...it should be kept cool during both runs and stops. What I see from this graph is that the CAI rapidly cools on take off, but that the throttle body stays hot on take-off and benefits only slightly from the CAI's cold air delivery. It would therefore seem that the throttle body is getting most of its heat from conduction from being bolted to the engine. This graph, if representative of what we are actually trying to test (and I think it is) shows that the main benefit of CAI and DCAI's is not cold air delivery so much as higher air flow.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...re-profile.pdf

 

Makes me eat my words.

 

I wonder if anyone has experimented with aerogel 5mm sheet as a gasket material faced with stainless foil and/or spray copper as a thermal conduction inhibitor stack? Here is a link to a patent contemplating aerogel gaskets as a key enabler of solid oxide fuel cells...

http://www.google.it/patents/US7425381

excerpt... "In many high temperature fuel cell systems such as the system (100) shown in FIG. 1, the housing (104) is made of stainless steel or other structural materials, and the fuel cell (102) includes ceramic or other materials. The interfaces (127 and 128) between the stainless steel housing and the ceramic fuel cell components are very difficult to maintain in high temperature conditions. However, it has been discovered that gaskets made of an aerogel can provide the desired seal between fuel cell system components.
... The aerogel gaskets (130 and 132) are preferably made of silicon based aerogels... Alternatively or additionally, the aerogels may be covered by a skin (e.g. a gas-impermeable skin) to reduce permeability prior to use in a high temperature fuel cell."

So, following this thought train, one could conceive of a system where suitably reflectively skinned and fitted aerogel gaskets could be installed to isolate non-pressurized parts from the engine's metallic heat paths. The throttle body and intakes are metal and thus highly efficient heat conductors - a bad thing. If this works, next, one could then try said gaskets in pressurized locations and if they worked, you would keep all parts in the intake train as cool as possible such that they would quickly and dramatically benefit from cool air washing through the CAI as soon as the car accelerated from rest.

 

No offense intended - just doing the thought experiment(s) to see where - if anywhere - it might lead.

for reference and shopping convenience - this is the company where the Corvette Chief Engineer got his transmission tunnel insulation

http://www.pacorinc.com/zen-cart/

 

I think a great place to try and seperate heat would be the exhaust manifolds. To contain the heat from them away from everything else. The problem is the shape of them would be hard to wrap.

 

This is way way better than the other stuff they say insulates, science marches on thank god.

If they got too hot because they could not cool down a little they could cause more problems. They probably get dull red hot now at times.

 

does our throttle body flow engine coolant so that ice/condensation doesn't form in winter? If so, then THAT may be the reason the throttle body won't cool down even with a CAI...IF that's the case, a way around it would be to build a fluid bypass circuit to keep this hot water away from the throttle body when not needed during cold weather.

 

No, it does not have any coolant flow.

( You must have a private pilot's license - throttle back, carb heat on )