An oil cooler is designed to remove excessive heat from the oil used to lubricate vehicles, machinery, and mechanical equipment. These types of coolers can be either a water-to-oil or air to oil type of heat exchanger.

Lubricating oils are developed for differing kinds of temperature ranges and operating conditions. To ensure an oil protects the machinery or equipment for which it was designed, it should always operate within its designated temperature range.

Too cold and it thickens, making it more difficult for the oil to lubricate the moving parts. Too hot and the viscosity of the oil could start to breakdown, resulting in premature component wear and ultimately equipment failure.

The problem is that moving metal parts generate lots of heat, which gets transferred to the lubricating oil. By adding an oil cooler into the lubrication circuit, the oil temperature is controlled and always kept within the correct operating range.

Oil coolers can be either air cooled or water cooled, depending on the nature of the application. Bowman manufacture a wide range of water cooled ‘shell and tube’ design oil coolers for off/on highway vehicles, construction plant and associated equipment, cooling heavy duty applications such as torque converters, automatic transmission and engine oils.

Find out more about Bowman oil coolers.