Tod,
You started off well, but got a little confuzzled downstream. Let's start
again where you started. No coolant flow so the coolant in the engine is at
engine temperature and no heat flow to the coolant there and same thing in
the radiator - both the radiator and the coolant are at ambient temperature,
and no heat flow. Now let's allow a very slow coolant flow. Now, at the
inlet to the engine, the coolant is at ambient temperature and some heat
flows to the coolant for a short distance into the engine until the coolant
heats up, but for most of the rest of the travel through the engine it's at
engine temp, so no further heat flow. As we increase the flow, the ambient
temperature coolant penetrates farther into the engine before coming to
engine temp. As we keep increasing the flow rate the outlet temp from the
engine begins to drop below its zero flow value, and the outlet from the
radiator starts to increase above ambient. At the extreme of high flow, the
coolant temperature is the same throughout the system, and is intermediate
in temperature between ambient and engine temperature. This is the condition
of maximum heat transfer from the engine to the ambient; maximum heat flow
from engine to coolant, maximum heat flow from coolant to radiator, and
maximum heat flow from radiator to ambient.
Bob
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