Air-to-Air Intercooling of the Ford 7.8L Mid-Range Truck Diesel Engine

Several benefits were realized with the use of charge cooling systems that can deliver near ambient temperatures. These include performance, emissions and durability improvements as well as, in some cases, cost reduction opportunities coupled with these opportunities the development engineers faced some challenges related to establishing methods, systems and procedures to test these engines in a laboratory environment, as well as some unique challenges for cold weather operation.

This paper contains the description of the work leading to the design and development of a “slave” system allowing the testing of air-to-air charge cooled engines in a laboratory environment.