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An all-nylon intercooler for automotive applications has been shown to be possible. The heat rejecting element (cooling core) can be made employing the latest developments in plastic tubing, and the joining of the tanks to the tubes can be accomplished by advanced plastic welding techniques. The resultant part is similar in performance and environmentally robust compared to the aluminum parts made today. This paper will discuss assembly techniques and thermal performance, including test data and results. Increasing the robustness of the design is the recent development of extrusion grade polyphthalamide plastic tubing. The feasibility of production has been enhanced by the commercialization of laser welding of plastics using diode lasers.

The effects of engine noise in plastic manifolds has been a subject of study in the automotive Industry. Several SAE papers have been published on the subject. Most testing described requires access to engine dynamometers and other elaborate equipment. As part of a general study of plastic intake manifold noise characteristics, this study was undertaken to develop a synthesis bench for enabling low cost noise testing of plastic induction systems including plastic manifolds. Computer simulation of engine intake noise was used as part of a correlation between the plastic manifold synthesis bench and actual engine measurements. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis provided analogous results between the predicted theoretical and two measured signals with a fundamental frequency at approximately 80 Hz. Qualitative and statistical comparisons of the time domain signals also proved equally favourable. Recommendations are included for further development of this approach.