How A Diesel Air Intake System Works

Controlling diesel air intake is very vital if you have diesel engine vehicle. Since a diesel engine requires close tolerances in order to achieve its compression ratio, and since most diesel engines are supercharged or turbo charged, the air that enters it must be clean and free of debris, and also as cool as possible. To improve the efficiency of a supercharged or turbo charged engine, the compressed air must be cooled once it has been compressed.  These tasks are performed by the air intake system of the vehicle.

It is important to keep in mind that air intake systems greatly vary from one vendor to another, but are usually one of two types, namely wet or dry. In a wet filter intake system, the air is sucked through a housing that holds a bath of oil, something that enables the dirt in the air to be removed by the oil in the filter. The air then passes through a screen-type material to make sure that the entrained oil is removed from the air.  A dry filter system behaves a bit differently. Paper, cloth or a metal material is used for catching and trapping before it makes its way into the engine.

Apart from cleaning the air, a diesel air intake system is usually designed to intake fresh air from as far away from the engine as practicable, normally just outside the engine’s enclosure or building. Because of this, the engine is supplied with air that has not been heated by its own waste heat. The reason why the engine’s air supply has to be as cool as possible is that cool air is heavier than hot air. What this means is that per unit volume, cool air contains more oxygen compared to hot air. More oxygen means a more efficient fuel burn, and also more engine power.

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