Maybe you haven’t really given a lot of thought to what type of cooling system keeps your engine cool. It’s fairly understandable we don’t care about it until something goes wrong. But before we go ahead, let me just tell you this: there are primarily three kinds of engines - air, liquid and oil-cooled. In this article, we dive deep into air-cooled engines.
In all probability, there is an air-cooled engine in your garage; if you have a Royal Enfield Classic 350, Honda Unicorn or the TVS Apache RTR 160, you have an air-cooled engine at home. Mostly, small displacement engines are air-cooled as they don’t require a lot of technology to maintain the cool.
Air-cooled engines are simple; the philosophy used here is to let the airflow around the engine keep it cool. Air-cooled engines don’t have a radiator, water pump, coolant or any other part associated with a liquid-cooled engine. In a way, it’s a good thing - fewer components mean fewer chances of something going wrong with the engine.
In the 1960s, even the big manufacturers used air-cooled engines - the 1964 Porsche 911 and the original Volkswagen Beetle used an air-cooled engine. Even helicopters and small planes use air cooling technology. If someone tells you that you need a liquid cooling system on your 150cc motorcycle, they may not be the most reliable source.
Air-cooled engines are specifically designed to ensure the hottest areas receive the most airflow, allowing for effective cooling and preventing overheating during operation. One of the key design features that contribute to maintaining lower temperatures in an air-cooled engine is the use of horizontally opposed cylinders. These cylinders are positioned to face away from each other, which not only balances the engine but also spreads them farther apart compared to a typical water-cooled engine. This layout creates more space between the cylinders, allowing air to flow freely over the cooling fins. These fins, attached to the cylinder heads and engine block, increase the surface area available for heat dissipation, ensuring that heat is effectively released into the surrounding air, even during high-performance use.
Air-cooled engines are not perfect, and they do have their limitations: they are more likely to overheat, and the large fans used to cool the engine take up a lot of energy.
However, air-cooled engines are an excellent choice for small vehicles due to their simplicity, ease of maintenance, and reliable performance. At their core, all engines rely on air cooling to some extent, even when supplemented by advanced technologies such as liquid or water cooling systems.
