An oil cooler is designed to remove excessive heat from the oil used to lubricate vehicles, machinery and mechanical equipment. For example, a hot engine transfers heat to the oil which then circulates through a heat-exchanger (also known as an oil cooler), using either air or water to cool the oil.
It achieves this by using a cooling medium – usually either air or water – to transfer heat from the oil and to the cooling medium. It does this without either the oil or cooling medium coming into direct contact with each other. For example, an air cooled oil cooler often looks like a small car radiator and achieves its purpose by running the oil through finned tubes. The incoming air passes over and around the tubes, removing heat as it passes through.