Well for one they are two different types of cores. A tube and fin core actually flows air better than a Bar and Plate. Tube and Fins were always designed as automotive intercoolers and most factory intercoolers from automobile manufacturers are Tube and Fin, this includes the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo, Nissan, etc..
Bar and Plate were designed for low rpm machinery i.e industrial use.
Lets move beyond that though. Thing is Bar and Plate was championed and Pioneered for use in automotive applications back in the 90’s by Sparco a intercooler manufacturer who specializes in Bar and Plate and Turbonetics a Garrett based Turbo company.
The major differences in the designs are basically with a bar and plate you can pack more cooling lines in a smaller space at the expense of airflow. What does this mean? This means that even though you have reduced airflow you have increased cooling capacity. This is fine as long as one does not heat soak.
Now Tube and Fin flow more air but used to have les cooling capacity until recent technological developments of Square tube and fin which allows for a denser core that is still air flow efficient. The benefits of the Tube and Fin and sometimes the issue bar and plate fans like to point out is the Tube and Fin will heat soak faster. Which used to be more true than it is with the newer designs.
The flip side of that is the fact that a Tube and Fin will also cool down faster.
A bar and plate if it heatsoaks which it takes awhile to do will actually take longer to cool back down. Essentially leaving the Turbo car stranded in the pits while the team waits for the heatsoaked intercooler to cool down to the point where the car can boost again. As blowing hot air kills boost.
Bar and Plate are also so prevalent that it makes them really cheap to sell. Hence the boon of cheap aftermarket intercoolers all being Bar and Plate.
So Mountune initially used a small *( larger than our stock intercooler) Tube and Fin in the UK . Where ambient temps are pretty much way cooler than a lot of North America. So it was discovered that it was too small an intercooler for anything besides stock turbo tuned cars.
They switched to a Bar and Plate that actually has more bars than the tube and fin one had tubes. So it was essentially a larger core in roughly the same dimensional area.
Does that help?
Bar and Plate were designed for low rpm machinery i.e industrial use.
Lets move beyond that though. Thing is Bar and Plate was championed and Pioneered for use in automotive applications back in the 90’s by Sparco a intercooler manufacturer who specializes in Bar and Plate and Turbonetics a Garrett based Turbo company.
The major differences in the designs are basically with a bar and plate you can pack more cooling lines in a smaller space at the expense of airflow. What does this mean? This means that even though you have reduced airflow you have increased cooling capacity. This is fine as long as one does not heat soak.
Now Tube and Fin flow more air but used to have les cooling capacity until recent technological developments of Square tube and fin which allows for a denser core that is still air flow efficient. The benefits of the Tube and Fin and sometimes the issue bar and plate fans like to point out is the Tube and Fin will heat soak faster. Which used to be more true than it is with the newer designs.
The flip side of that is the fact that a Tube and Fin will also cool down faster.
A bar and plate if it heatsoaks which it takes awhile to do will actually take longer to cool back down. Essentially leaving the Turbo car stranded in the pits while the team waits for the heatsoaked intercooler to cool down to the point where the car can boost again. As blowing hot air kills boost.
Bar and Plate are also so prevalent that it makes them really cheap to sell. Hence the boon of cheap aftermarket intercoolers all being Bar and Plate.
So Mountune initially used a small *( larger than our stock intercooler) Tube and Fin in the UK . Where ambient temps are pretty much way cooler than a lot of North America. So it was discovered that it was too small an intercooler for anything besides stock turbo tuned cars.
They switched to a Bar and Plate that actually has more bars than the tube and fin one had tubes. So it was essentially a larger core in roughly the same dimensional area.
Does that help?
