Cooling system swirl pot

[dbbob1987]

Hi, Im just looking for some ideas for a swirl pot for my groups sae car. If anyones has pictures and whatnot itll be greatly appreaciated. Thanks

[Michael Palaszynski]

First, have you searched google? there's lots of pictures im sure if you just search around first.

Anyways, what kind of shape do you think of when you imagine a "swirl pot" ? The entrance should be placed such to induce swirl. The pot itself should also flow water. So it must be designed such that during high g loading does not cause the pot to starve the system.

I suggest reading one of the Caroll Smith books. A simple design is shown in either Tune to Win or Prepare to Win, I don't have the books in front of me at the moment.

[nzgenette]

Thanks for the advice Michael. The only book available in the library at the time was "Engineer to Win" by Carroll which has only a small amount of info about it. He says that 1/2 gallon (*cringe* 1.9l) is the minimum size to use and that they're an "absolute necessity" on any racing car. I am wondering though if the other books you mentioned had more information regarding sizing for a specific system - surely it's not a one size fits all approach? (this book though has a nice schematic of a cooling system involving a swirl pot, header tank etc)

Our idea is to basically guess and check the size, but it'd be nice to start somewhere near the solution. By the way, I think the internet fails if you are trying to find this information...

[Chris Lane]

Why do you need a swirl pot in a cooling system?

All the race cars I've seen use pressurised cooling systems, however you need to take care to bleed the system after you fill it up. If it is designed properly however, you shouldn't have to bleed it.

[Brian Evans]

The swirl pot at it's most basic is just there to de-aerate the coolant just after it leaves the engine and before the radiators, and it makes the radiators more efficient than they would otherwise be. It's also a handy place to put the radiator cap, to add water to the system, to run bleed lines to, to put the temp gauge sender, to act as a header tank, to attach coolant lines to...

I'm currently making them from 2" or 2.5" aluminium tube, 1/16" thick, about 8" tall and just stick a bottom on, a rad cap fitting on the top, and the various in/outlets, bleed lines, etc, for each application. You don't actually NEED one, you do need a high point to collect air and act as a header tank.

Brian

[Michael Palaszynski]

nzgenette,

To an extent, true the internet fails. But with a little engineering, the internet isn't needed at all. Why do you needed a swirl pot in the first place?

By de-aerating the coolant, coolant system efficiency increases. How much 'de-aeration' (whether that's even a propor statement) is up to you. Run some tests. How does the swirl pot effect coolant temperature? What's your dT across the radiator? etc...Brian's post gives away some neat little details that clean the system up nicely.

[VFR750R]

You should look up pressurized cooling systems for cars like nascar. It has a header tank running parallel to the radiator (meaning some water bypasses the rad), with half air to pressurize the system. In the event of too much pressure it is designed to release just steam so that the system can recover and maintain high pressure after the water cools.

You can see them working every weekend for qualifying(steam coming out of the passenger side cowl).

C&R sells tanks.
http://www.crracing.com/custom_built/press_cooling.shtml

[Pete Fodor]

Retracted my mistake

[Michael Palaszynski]

Our filler cap can handle a maximum of 25 psi of pressure.

Legal.

[Dan Deussen @ Weber Motor]

Originally posted by Pete Fodor:
I'd just like to point out that pressurised cooling systems are against the rules.

Hello Pete,
would you mind pointing out to me which rule would prohibit a pressurized cooling system?

[Pete Fodor]

I must be imagining things ... i was under the impression that it had to be 1 bar. My mistake
I retract my previous statement. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Altair]

hey guys,,,

the swirl pot that we use, it has an inlet from the engine head an outlet towards the radiator.
but is there a vent line from the swirl pot to the header tank or is there just a breather on it.

thank you