Cummins, Powerstroke & Duramax Diesel Aftermarket Air Induction Systems

The air induction system has several components that help provide cool clean air into the engine. These componenst include air intake, intercooler, intake manifold, and turbocharger. Each component has an important role in the air induction process and overall performance gain. Increasing horsepower fuel economy are the two most important aspects we commonly seek to obtain.

Air Intakes

Good air induction is one of the most important aspects of the diesel engine combustion process. Therefore, getting lots of cool clean air molecules into the engine improves its performance. Let's look at the diesel induction system in a simplistic way. The ambient (outside) air is sucked into the engine from the turbocharger compressor. This hot compressed air travels through a few other air channels before atomizing (mixing) with the fuel inside each piston chamber. The air filter is the first component to take part in the process. The filtered clean air moves into the intercooler where it is then cooled before going into the intake manifold. The intake manifold routes the freshly cooled air into the cylinder heads for combustion.

Intercoolers

Hot air has less oxygen than cold air and therefore less combustion properties. Increasing the content or density of oxygen from hot compressed air (by way of the turbocharger) is a sure way to increase horsepower and efficiency. An intercooler drops air temperature before going into the intake manifold. It has a similar shape and size as a radiator. Diesel intercoolers cool compressed air by way of traveling through several channeled bar-like tubular pipes before making its way into the intake manifold. A reduction in temperature is caused by the outside air forcing against the condenser when driving known as air-to-air intercooled increasing the density of molecules supplied into the engine.

Turbochargers

One of the most fascinating features of a turbocharger is rate at which the impellor wheel spins. The Cummins, Powerstroke and Duramax diesel turbochargers spool well above 30,000 RPM continuously. Efficiency is the single most reason to buy an aftermarket turbo. Less bearing drag on the impellor shaft creates more volume of compressed air at a faster rate. The way it works is awesome. The engine uses its own hot exhaust gases that exit out the exhaust manifold from the combustion process to propel one sideof the turbocharger meanwhile the other side, the compressor turbine impellor wheel, is driving (sucking) air from the intake system filter and then pushing it throughout the rest of the induction system.

Intake Manifolds

The name of the game is getting more air into the engine for fuel atomization. Aftermarket intake manifolds are bigger and stronger than factory equipped ones and provide a higher volume of air passage into the cylinder head. Think of an intake manifold like a neck of a balloon. If the neck is super small and the air balloon is huge, no more air is going to pass through to the other side of the balloon neck unless the neck is widened. An intake manifold works much in the same way. The intake system must be able to keep up with the demand from the turbocharger pushing compressed air through the intercooler. If the intake manifold is not up to par with the same metrics of air volume it will limit the overall performance able to do sustain the process.

Call us toll free at (888) OC DIESEL. We are happy to answer any questions about air induction products for your diesel truck!