A radiator fan plays an essential part in the safe functioning of your car. A problem faced by all internal combustion engines is overheating. Even though modern engines are terribly efficient compared to their predecessors they still waste approximately 2/3 of the power output produced when gasoline and air are mixed and ignited to create power. This missing two thirds takes the form of heat. Some of which travels as hot air and gas out through the exhaust system. The other third remains inside the engine and has to be removed by other means. Failure to remove this excess of heat can cause the engine to be damaged in several ways. In the first place moving parts that get too hot can become friction welded together. In the second case the motor oil can overheat. Hot oil gets thin, too thin to lubricate successfully, causing damage and because oil is used to remove heat, oil that is already superheated has no capacity to remove excess heat and therefore a vicious circle is formed with the engine getting hotter and hotter.
The main way and engine is called is by the cooling system. Cooling is a mixture of water and antifreeze. Antifreeze is used to change the boiling point of water, to make it higher, this means the water is able to absorb more heat before boiling off. Heat transfer takes place from the engine to the water through tiny boreholes drilled in the engine block. The coolant is pumped around the engine until it gets to the car radiator. This is where heat transfer occurs again to remove the heat from the water mixture. Radiators rely on using a very large surface area to quickly transfer heat from the liquid to the air flowing into the radiator as the car travels forward. The oil is sprayed over many, many layers of metal inside the radiator. Surface area is a critical aspect of this heat transfer. If you think about a cup of water on a hot day you can stand it outside and it will practically never evaporate. However, if you take the water and throw it over the concrete it is spread over a much larger surface area and the heat from the sun (and from the concrete beneath) quickly makes all the water evaporate. The same principle is true in the radiator and many other heat transfers for that matter.
However if the car is not moving forward there can be an issue because there is no air flowing into the car’s front grill to cool the coolant in the radiator. This is why a radiator fan is needed to provide air flow when the car is stationary. It is also used to provide additional airflow when the car is moving if there isn’t enough air coming through to cool the radiator. This is particularly necessary in traffic jams when the engine is still running but there is very little airflow. To increase the efficiency of the radiator fan a shroud or guard is used to make sure as much air as possible is directed on to the radiator and not lost out of the sides of the fan.
In short a radiator cooling fan is an essential piece of your car’s engine. Without it it would overheat very quicker. You might get away with a broken fan when driving at normal speeds, particularly if it is not a hot day but when the engine is and the car is not moving or is only moving very slowly it’s vital to have a working fan.
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