A frequent issue when tracking vehicles is that of elevated
fluid temperatures.

Various styles of oil-to-air and a few oil-to-water types
of exchangers are available to help shed the additional
heat.

Something I have not seen in use are the extruded section
fluid-to-air coolers. The reduced efficiency of this style
(versus tube/fin/plate styles) is offset by the possibility
of choosing coolers with greater surface area and of
mounting them in non-traditional locations, keeping heat
load off existing coolers in traditional locations.

The extruded sections are very durable and impervious to
debris impact. They do not rely on airflow through tight
passageways and thus are not subject to clogging. Typically
the ones I am familiar with are under 1" thick, a few inches
wide and deployed in varying lengths. These can be joined
in series &/or in parallel to increase total cooling surface
area. The shallow depth section opens up several possibilities
for mounting.

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Do you have a photo of an example? This is probably something I should be familiar with.

Are the fluid passages large enough to prevent restrictions in flow, or elevated pressures?

The original application that prompted the thought is
liquid cooling systems for snowmobiles.

A plethora of shapes of exchangers are mounted in the
tunnels and under running boards of sleds. Some of the
large displacement sleds have several discrete kinds
of exchangers scattered around the underside.

With the variety of exchangers, there are an equal number
of methods of connecting coolent lines. Ideally, a
suitable unit with an fittings would turn up. However,
keep in mind that these are extrusions - it is does not
require rocket science to cut, weld, join relatively
thick sections of cast aluminum.

While I would want to test to see what kind of pressure
drop occured when intended for engine oil requirements, I
am more than confident that flow would be adequate for
transmission purposes.

What I have not found is anything that gives some insight
into the heat transference properties of such devices.

A search brings up sources for new and recycled exchangers
ranging in price from sub-$40 to plus-$100.

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If these are the ones I'm thinking of, a single pass through a solid chunk of aluminum with fins, I'd say they're almost useless. Summit does sell them.

Quote:
No, these are different. Sleds are rated for upwards of
100-120 HP - in several situations they are called upon
to make it and this produces heat that has to be dispersed.

Three examples of the many configurations



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The top picture reminds me of the coolers on a liquid cooled snowmobile. They are very durable!

Any pictures of a cross section?

Quote:
This is the best I can do for the moment.



I believe the extrusions for snowmobiles typically have one
or more internal ribs, creating two or more longitudinal
passage ways for fluid flow.

It is curious to see how little information is returned
using search terms that come to mind for locating primary
vendors of the material.

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