| The larger the charge face, the lower the pressure drop is going to be and the higher the cooling efficiency will be for identical length and construction cores. As you increase the length of a core with identical charge faces and construction, you will see better cooling, but at a greater pressure drop penalty. There is a balancing act to sizing an intercooler. What I have come to find is with the MASSIVES operating at the 650+RWHP level in 70F ambient temperatures, we are reducing the charge temp from 300F down to about 105F. That still leaves another 35F of potential thermal difference between the ambient temps and intercooler outlet charge temps. The pressure drop at this level was around 1.7psi or so. A taller core would have less pressure drop and better cooling; almost the same as if we used a thicker core, if there were such cores available or if it would even fit. A longer core would only benefit in on respect: it would cool better, but at the cost of more pressure drop. Inreasing the thickness of the core has diminishing effects on cooling capacity as the ambient air heats as it moves through the core, but the thicker core will flow with less pressure drop. Although this may be a gross assumption to make, it seems that when initially sizing an intercooler design, keeping an intercooler "square" in dimensions rather than rectangularizing it will offer the best balance of flow, pressure drop, and cooling capacity. From the test results we have so far and given the constraints of size limitations, the available space in the SMIC location of these vehicles being almost completely taken up has so far proven to work the best. Making the core any thinner is going to create more pressure-drop, which will hurt peak performance. You can't make it any wider given the design of the car, you can't make it any taller as there aren't any cores available in taller sizes, so we're left with the thickness, and I certainly wouldn't go thinner.
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