Laminova, a very different water to air cooler.

[awill4x4]

I'm employed as a fabricator/welder in the motorsports industry and have been involved in many an interesting project but somehow or other I got involved in intercooling for turbo/supercharged engines. First I was involved in air to air units but they are so cheap now from China and they don't really interest me any more.
A while ago I got involved with welding a water to air intercooler using cylindrical Laminova cores from Sweden and in testing so far it is exceeding our expectations.
Below are some pics of our next Laminova project on a 6 cylinder Nissan 4.2 litre turbo diesel engine.
We have incorporated it into the inlet manifold and so far we are pretty happy with how it's turned out.
There is quite a large space between where it curls over the rocker cover and the inlet manifold but this is to allow for the diesel fuel rails, injectors and glow plugs.
We have made the snout so we can unbolt it for access to rocker arms in case of tappet adjustment and also access to the injectors etc.
The final photo shows the construction of the cores and just how radical a departure from conventional intercooler core design they are.
Regards Andrew

[JustenGT8]

Apparently very efficient system and great for flow.....i just can't my head around it though?

[awill4x4]

My friend Matt who got me interested in the Laminova coolers has started the installation on his mates Nissan Patrol and it's all coming along pretty well.
His mate has to go back to WA for work so the final fitting will be late December we think.
In the meantime we are getting involved in another 4 core Laminova cooler in a different configuration for a 3 series BMW with a 3.5 litre 6 cylinder shoehorned in.
Also a monster 12 core version for a twin turbo LS1 Gen 3 V8 in a 1952 Ford Mercury. We have lots of room for that one.
Regards Andrew.

[Duk]

Interesting!
Keen to see pre and post air temps and flow figures.
Cheers for photos, keep them coming

[awill4x4]

Apparently very efficient system and great for flow.....i just can't my head around it though?

When you look at them initially the 1st thought is: "there's no way air will flow through that" but when you sit back and do the maths for each slot and when you look at the square area and multiply by 4 cores the amount of area the air has to flow through is actually larger than that of the more common front mounts. Then the core design: each fin is 0.2mm thick and the gap between each fin is 0.3mm so there's actually 50% more area for air than fin.
Think of it as thousands of razor blades cutting the air as it passes then transferring its boosted heat to the water running through the core centre just millimetres below.
We've got a 4 core up and running in a 40 series Landcruiser running a hybrid 2F/3FE injected petrol engine running 8-9 psi boost. Inlet temps to turbo are 26C, outlet temps from the turbo are 82C and after the intercooler they are 32C,
So we are knocking 50 degrees C out and this is the REALLY freaky part, in the distance of approx 50mm (5 cm) it takes to pass through the core. And then we are flat lining the post intercooler temps at 5C above the ambient air entering the turbo.
Regards Andrew.

[oldcorollas]

they look interesting...
is there any gap between the tubes they go in, and the fins? or all the air has to go thru the fins?

the problem with such thin gaps is the drag from boundary layers, but if the air is not flowing too fast, and there is enough area, then it could be ok.

any chance of getting pressure drop measurements?

they look awesome for oil coolers tho.

[oldeskewltoy]

Alpine Development was using Laminova coolers for about 4 or 5 years now! Well, they were till they were sold!

They had a Laminova cooler built into a Tiburon V6 intake... VERY "cool" stuff (pardon the pun!)

[river]

Hi,

So, you could use one of these Laminova thingies on a 1JZ, and not require a front mount IC, and it will fit into the engine bay of an RA28?

seeyuzz
river

[oldcorollas]

it would help... they don't have to be mounted at the manifold... like any WTA IC they can go anywhere after turbo..

[boxh34d]

So are the 4 water fittings all inlets, with outlets on the other end, or 2 in, 2 out??
If 2 in 2 out, how does the water change direction, coming back?
Looks like a very interesting setup, which will be loved by the V block, PD blower people due to compact size required vs cooling effectiveness.

[Z2TT]

This also means shorter cooler piping, does this mean increased throttle response?

[timbosaurus]

Hi,

So, you could use one of these Laminova thingies on a 1JZ, and not require a front mount IC, and it will fit into the engine bay of an RA28?

seeyuzz
river

Still needs the heat exchanger Mate.

[river]

Hi,

Well... that's not going to help me. I want a 1JZ-GTE, with air conditioning, to fit inside an RA28 engine bay without hacking the front up.

seeyuzz
river

[oldcorollas]

heat exchanger doesn't need to be at the front, since it doesn't need to reject anywhere near as much heat as the radiator.
full flow air would be nice, but not necessary.
the rate of heatin gof the water is much slower than a normal air to air IC, and the cooling down of the fluid is also slower..
really worried? increase capacity of fluid in system.. should at least give more time for the fluid to heat up.

stick a decent sized fan on the water to air part and mount it.. anywhere... or put it next to the aircon core inside the cabin

of course ti may nto be the best solution for a circuit car, but great for when you will only nail the throttle now and again.


do you only get the snazzy cores and end caps? or you get the tubes they slide into as well? how critical is the diameter of the tubes they slide into?

[awill4x4]

So are the 4 water fittings all inlets, with outlets on the other end, or 2 in, 2 out??
If 2 in 2 out, how does the water change direction, coming back?
Looks like a very interesting setup, which will be loved by the V block, PD blower people due to compact size required vs cooling effectiveness.

Yes, we have designed these for a straight through one shot water pass for each core which then goes to the heat exchanger gets cooled then back to the I/cooler. When used by the car manufacturers they use a multi pass where the water flows from one core to the other till it eventually exits the last core but we feel the heat buildup in the water means you lose the air cooling efficiency of each core so that's why we've gone one shot pass.
You're right, these were originally designed for supercharging but for us "efficient cooling is efficient cooling" regardless of the mode of turbo/supercharging.
I would love to try these in one the aftermarket supercharged LS1/2 V8's like Harrop etc, as the water to air intercoolers they use are basically useless at transferring heat.
Regards Andrew.