Which type of intercooler circulates water through the tubes?

• A. Air-to-water
• B. Air-to-air
• C. Water-to-air
• D. None

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how the cooling medium is laid out in the intercooler. In this setup, water is circulated through the tubes of the intercooler core while the compressed air flows around those tubes. The heat from the hot air is transferred into the moving water, which then carries that heat away to be cooled elsewhere. That arrangement is described as an air-to-water intercooler.

Air-to-air intercoolers rely on ambient air to remove heat, with no liquid circulating through tubes, so they don’t use water inside the core. The water-to-air naming would imply a different flow arrangement where water is the primary medium in contact with the air in a way that isn’t the tube-based design described here. So, circulating water through the tubes corresponds to the air-to-water type.