Grille

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BMW's distinctive kidney-shaped grille on an E34 M5
BMW's distinctive kidney-shaped grille on an E34 M5
Audi's "single frame" grille, here on a second generation TT
Audi's "single frame" grille, here on a second generation TT

Contents

In automotive engineering, a grille is an opening in the bodywork of a vehicle to allow air to enter. Most vehicles feature a grille at the front of the vehicle to allow air to flow over the radiator and cool the engine compartment. Other common grille locations include below the front bumper, in front of the wheels (to cool the brakes), in the cowl for cabin ventilation, or on the rear deck lid (in rear engine vehicles).

Some cars have what appear to be tiny grilles which are not positioned to duct air through the radiator. These are horn grilles, which enable the sound of the horn to be clearly heard forward.

The grille is often a distinctive styling element, and many marques use it as their primary brand identifier. For example, Jeep has trademarked its seven-bar grille style. [1] Rolls-Royce is famous for arranging its grille bars by hand to ensure that they appear perfectly vertical. Other makers known for their grille styling include Bugatti's horse-collar, BMW's split kidney, Dodge's cross bar, Alfa Romeo's 6-bar shield, Volvo's slash bar, and Audi's relatively new, so-called single-frame grille. The unusual 1971 Plymouth Barracuda grille is known as a cheesegrater.

The contrary styling pattern also occurs. Staring from the late 1930s, Cadillac would alternate its pattern from horizontal bars to various patterns of crosshatching as a simple way of making the car look new from year to year, for this make did not have a standard grille form. Sometimes there is a sort of fashion trend in grille bars. For example, in the early years after WWII, many American car makers generally switched to fewer and thicker grille bars.

A billet grille is an aftermarket part that is used to enhance the style or function of the original OEM grille. They are generally made from billet, solid bar stock aircraft grade aluminum or stainless steel, although some are CNC Machined from one solid sheet of aluminum.

Customizers would alter the grille as a matter of course in personalizing their car, taking the grille bar from another make, for example. Even sheet metal with patterned holes for ventilation grating sold to homeowners for repair has been found filling the grille opening of custom cars.

In HVAC Room air distribution, a grille, specifically spelled with the ending e, is a class of air terminals.[2] Most HVAC grilles are used as return or exhaust air inlets to ducts, but some are used as supply air outlets. Diffusers and nozzles, are, for example, used as supply air outlets too. Registers are a type of HVAC grille that also incorporates an air damper.[3]

  1. ^ Daimler Chrysler loses battle for injunction against GM H2 grille (2002-11-18). Retrieved on July 17, 2006.
  2. ^ Designer's Guide to Ceiling-Based Air Diffusion, ASHRAE, Inc., Atlanta, GA, USA, 2002
  3. ^ ASHRAE Handbook: Fundamentals (SI Edition), 1997

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.