Go With The Flow!

Fluids are as important to any car or motorcycle as blood is to our bodies

- Shashank Singh

Just like the blood in our bodies helps transfer oxygen, proteins, vitamins and the like from one part to another, fluids help various parts of automobiles function efficiently. These functions are primarily to transfer energy, heat, power or force. Their flow rate can be altered as required, besides the fact that fluids can easily be stored in one place, made to flow through pipelines, ducts or manifolds or enter the smallest of spaces. Fluids can also be disposed or refilled, that’s how ducts and hoses containing them are engineered, unlike the mechanical arrangements of yore where linkages needed additional space and tolerance to function, while also adding weight.

Fluids have helped make automobiles a lot more efficient in fact. For example, coal-driven engines would puff off most of their energy unlike modern petrol or diesel engines that use energy generated from combustion far more efficiently. Also, mechanically linked clutches and brakes were more tedious to operate or maintain as compared to the hydraulic ones today. Liquid-cooled engines also boast higher outputs, which is why car engines are liquid-cooled today. Of course, temperature management of fluids is a big condition for efficient functioning.