TANK-SHAPE THEORY

End-tank design is something that results in all manner of debate between those a lot smarter than the NZPC team and, in itself, would require a full article to cover in depth. Thus, we’ll keep it brief, given that, in a real-world situation, you’ll often be restricted, first and foremost, by the location of the core and surrounding space in which to fit the two tanks. In our particular design we’re dealing with a V-mount location. The hotside tank is the most crucial. Here, you’ll want to avoid sharp changes in angle, as this will result it dead spots and turbulence. If possible, a side entry is the best way to ensure even distribution across the core. You’ll also want to ensure a smooth transition from the inlet pipe to tank, the longer this transition can be and with a lowest possible angle will minimise turbulence. It’s something high-end cast tanks do so well. Once the air has passed across the core, the exit transition point is also crucial. As for tank sizing, we want to keep this as small as we can without affecting the flow. Keeping your tanks small will avoid having the charged air slowing too much as it expands to fill the space. In a perfect world, you’d use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyse your designs, but, if your budget is tight, there are plenty of CFD designs on the net to guide you in the right direction, so spend some time doing your homework as there is plenty of info out there pointing you toward best practice.