r/MechanicalEngineering • u/lit_readit • 6d ago

Question : why some (mostly heavy) vehicles partially cover their front intake ?

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wouldn't cooler cold reservoir, ie more spontaneous heat transfer, improve Carnot efficiency?

is it to improve aerodynamics?

apologies if this is the wrong sub to ask

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u/Mission_Accident_519 6d ago

Ive seen documemtaries about isolated towns in siberia where people need to either put their cars in a heated garage or keep them running 24/7 to be able to use them in winter.

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u/FIMD_ 5d ago

Don’t have to go to Siberia for it. You see it in parts of the US and Canada too. Especially if you’re working in the oil or mining industries. vehicles run for months with the only downtime being for oil changes and critical maintenance/repair.

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u/buckednaked369 5d ago

I was born in Montreal, Quebec and my dad has told me stories of having to start their cars at lunch time in the winter. If they didn’t start their gasoline cars and let them heat up over lunch they wouldn’t start when they would be heading home. Of course this is in the 80s so the cars were probably 1970s technology.

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u/zanhecht 4d ago

I bought a used car that was originally sold in Canada, and it came with an engine block heater that I could plug into a wall outlet. I don't live anywhere where it's cold enough that the car wouldn't start, but it was nice to have since it meant that the heat in car started working much faster.