painted intercooler

[kueves87]

a friend of mine painted his radiator and it caused overheating, but i Highly doubt a painted intercooler would cause any problems

 

[hvyman]

Radiators get painted stock. The paint was not his problem unless he blocked the gaps between the fins so there was no airflow.

 

[Bleakvoid]

IJ, how different would the shades end up? Sounds kinda interesting.

 

[IJ.]

IJ, how different would the shades end up? Sounds kinda interesting.

All depends on the material, Could be from a black on the tanks to a charcoal on the fins and the welds are going to be different again.

I wanted mine to be all Satin black so anodising it wasn't an option.

 

[3p141592654]

Anodized aluminum is not good for thermal transfer (it is a coating of AlO2 (alumina) which is a piss poor thermal conductor. Same with paint. The only reason you don't see a big effect is because it is thin.

Also the color is irrelevant. The contribution of heat transfer from radiation will be extremely small, compared to the effect of conduction in an air cooled application like an IC or radiator.

Painting the fins will decrease the effective heat transfer capabilities. This is attributed to 3 factors; namely: a) the additional thermal interface between the fins and paint, b) the heat transfer through the paint, and c) different heat transfer coefficient from the paint to the air compared to that from the bare metal to the air. If you want to paint it, the best would be a thermal dispersant coating.

Therm Cond W/m-K
Al 120 to 250
Al02 18 - 40
acrylic paint .5 to 1.5

In practice, none of this matters since the coatings are thin and the thermal effects negligible! :icon_bigg

http://210.212.24.72/~kscsteuser/digital-library/digital/KSC/ksc19/09-Eng&Tech/09-Contest/09-01.pdf