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Internal combustion engine cooling uses either air or liquid to remove the waste heat from an internal combustion engine. For small or special purpose engines, cooling using air from the atmosphere makes for a lightweight and relatively simple system. Watercraft can use water directly from the surrounding environment to cool their engines.
Hopper cooling. Hopper cooling is a simple form of water cooling used for small stationary engines. The defining feature of hopper cooling, amongst other water-cooled engines, is that there is no radiator. Cooling water is heated by the engine and evaporates from the surface of the hopper as steam. [ 2]
Air-cooled engine. Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. Air-cooled designs are far simpler than their liquid-cooled counterparts, which require a separate radiator, coolant reservoir, piping and pumps.
Directing water to circulate only through the engine allows the engine to reach optimum operating temperature as quickly as possible whilst avoiding localized "hot spots." Once the coolant reaches the thermostat's activation temperature, it opens, allowing water to flow through the radiator to prevent the temperature from rising higher.
The valve gradually closes as the temperature of the surrounding area increases, limiting the amount of hot water entering the radiator. This allows a maximum temperature to be set for each room. As the valve works by sensing the temperature of the air surrounding it, it is important to ensure that it is not covered by material (such as curtains).
Transpiration cooling is a thermodynamic process where cooling is achieved by a process of moving a liquid or a gas through the wall of a structure to absorb some portion of the heat energy from the structure while simultaneously actively reducing the convective and radiative [1] heat flux coming into the structure from the surrounding space.
The regenerator is the key component invented by Robert Stirling, and its presence distinguishes a true Stirling engine from any other closed-cycle hot air engine. Many small 'toy' Stirling engines, particularly low-temperature difference (LTD) types, do not have a distinct regenerator component and might be considered hot air engines; however ...
A number of homes and small apartment buildings have demonstrated combining a large internal water tank for heat storage with roof-mounted solar-thermal collectors. Storage temperatures of 90 °C (194 °F) are sufficient to supply both domestic hot water and space heating. The first such house was MIT Solar House #1, in 1939.