Custom Manufacturing: Marine Circular Charge Air Cooler

What do you do when presented with a non-standard cooler design? For us, the answer is simple. You create a comparable design and build it. That’s what we did when contacted about an all aluminum replacement charge air cooler for a boat.

The original water to air cooler was built out of copper/brass with steel fittings and used a circular design. Given that a standard design cooler uses a square or rectangular core, we knew we would have to custom design this from scratch. Using our water jet cutting table, our designers cut custom tubes in a bar and plate style with baffles to direct the air through the circular tube. Fins were placed in the tubes to agitate the air flow and ensure proper cooling. The tubes were stacked like cake layers with a set of fins between each layer and a set of connecting pipes to link all the tubes together.

Designing our cooler this way, we were able to braze it as one solid unit. Aluminum fittings were TIG welded in place once the brazing process was complete. The result was an exact fit, all aluminum replacement with strength and durability exceeding the original equipment. Don’t take our word for it, here is what our customer had to say:

“Went to lake today for the first time with coolers installed and they worked great. They fit well , good job there! Lake temp was about 78-80 degrees, air temp was about 85, intake air was about 120-130 under boost.“

The next time you need a custom designed cooler, regardless of its shape, give us a call and our expert design team will work with you to get the job done. Also remember, that we highly recommend treating any cooler used in a marine environment with an e-coating to help protect it from the corrosive elements found there. You can read more about e-coating here: Protect Heat Exchanges from Corrosive Environments.