Air Scoop Test Preparations

More Air Scoop Testing

Background:

Just because I cannot get enough testing of this part, or rather it’s easy to test while doing other stuff so here I go again.

Air Scoop Test Preparations
Picture 1: Air Scoop Test Preparations

The Air Scoop leading into the airbox has been tested before, now it is being tested again with a different sensor and a relocated sensor to see if it has any affect on the condition of the air passing through the intake.

New to this test is a differential pressure transmitter (picture 2) that is setup to sample the air pressure at the inlet to the Eventuri air intake (picture 1), and at the Turbo Inlet Elbow (picture 3).

Dwyer Differential Pressure Transmitter
Picture 2: Dwyer Differential Pressure Transmitter

Also part of this test are a pair of temperature sensors, one located in the air inlet (shown in picture 1) and the other in the Turbo Inlet Elbow (below).

Turbo Inlet Elbow Sensor Ports
Picture 3: Turbo Inlet Elbow Sensor Ports

Test Procedure:

Two conditions will be used for comparison, steady driving and then a third gear, full throttle pull, passing 6,000 RPM.

The test will be done with the scoop opening covered, as shown in picture 1 above, and then with the scoop opening uncovered.

The temperature at the air inlet and pre-turbo will be evaluated for changes with and without the scoop cover in place.  The pressure differential across the air intake will also be compared for the two test cases.

Test Results:

Covered:

Shown in the next chart is 200 seconds of steady driving with the third gear pull taking place about 2/3 of the way across the timeline.  Temperature entering the air intake is approximately 80.5 degF which is one and a half above ambient until 20 seconds in when the ambient reading drops to 77 degF.

Temperature at the turbo inlet is approximately 10 degF higher then at the air system inlet.

Covered Air Scoop Driving
Covered Air Scoop Driving

Looking at the third gear pull the pressure differential maxes out around 1.2 v.  The air temperature entering the air intake is unchanged throughout the pull.

Covered Air Scoop 3rd Gear Pull
Covered Air Scoop 3rd Gear Pull

Uncovered:

Looking now at the drive with the air scoop opening uncovered the temperature at the air inlet is approximately 80.5 degF and the ambient air temperature is 79 degF.
The temperature at the turbo inlet is approximately 90 degF except during the third gear pull.
Uncovered Air Scoop Driving
Uncovered Air Scoop Driving

During the third gear pull the inlet air temperature decreases approximately 1 degF until the middle of the pull, after which it climbs back up to the initial temperature.

The pressure differential maxes out during the pull at approximately 1.2 v.

Uncovered Air Scoop 3rd Gear Pull
Uncovered Air Scoop 3rd Gear Pull

Conclusions:

Temperature at the air intake inlet is nearly identical for the covered and uncovered tests.

The pressure differential through the intake during the third gear pull reaches a maximum value of 1.2 volts in both the covered and uncovered tests.

There is no indication from this test that the air scoop has any affect on the air temperature entering the intake, or the pressure differential across the intake.

4 thoughts on “More Air Scoop Testing”

  1. Could any flow gains be harvested on a Golf R that is closed, but opened up the way a GTI is?

    1. I’m not understanding what area of the intake you are referring to. If you’re talking about the drivers side where people drill out the vertical part of the grill, there’s a little improvement in airflow from opening that up.

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