What is a Turbo Charger?

kohanson SG

Turbo Charger

Turbo system discussion invariably begins with the heart of the system, the turbocharger itself. Conventional naturally aspirated engines use the movement of pistons or a rotor to vary the volume of a combustion space. When the volume varies, the engine achieves aspiration (the act of breathing), with the pistons/rotor performing the duty of pulling air into the engine, compressing it for combustion, and then expelling waste gases. A turbocharger is a type of engine, except combustion is handled externally; in this case, combustion is happening inside the engine. Combustion waste gases spin an impeller (pictured) much like a river spins a waterwheel. Here, the housing is made of a material suitable for the handling of hot exhaust gas, in this case, cast iron. Gas flows into the impeller housing (or "turbine housing"[/i]) through the flange at the 6 o'clock position in this photo. The gases flow around the interior of the snail-shaped turbine housing and exit out the center. Typically, the center exit is bolted to a conventional exhaust system. The more exhaust gas the engine creates, the faster the turbine can spin, and thus the more work it can do.

A shaft conjoins the "hot" turbine side of the turbo to the "cold" compressor side. (No gears or mystery mechanisms inside the turbo ?it's just a shaft bathed in engine oil.) While the turbine only moves exhaust gas, the compressor only moves fresh air. It spins in the opposite direction from the turbine when viewed face-on, and the flow of air is also opposite, with intake in the center and output on the side, much like a hair dryer. Imagine placing your hand over the throttle body of a running engine ?normally, you'd feel vacuum ("suction"[/i]). With a properly selected turbocharger in place, this vacuum is replaced with pressure ?lots of pressure, as there is enough leftover energy in exhaust gas to spin the turbo at speeds that can apply 30 PSI and more of air pressure to the intake valves, known as "turbo boost." With positive intake pressure, not only is the engine breathing easier, it is actually getting force-fed.

article from http://overboost.com/story.asp?id=1048
to be continued...

Master -_- SG

Turbo Charger

A turbo charger is basically a device that uses exhaust gasses produced by the engine to blow air back into the engine. The additional air is supplemented with fuel by the ECU (engine control unit). This causes the engine to produce much more power since it is being supplied with more air and fuel than it possibly could without it. A naturally aspirated engine (non-turbo, standard engine), or "N/A" engine, has to "suck" air through the intake manifolds, throttle body, air filter, etc. With this setup, the most air pressure that can enter the combustion chamber of the engine is a bit less than the current atmospheric pressure. With the turbo, air is being blown into the chamber with positive pressure so that much more air and fuel can enter. A typical turbo charged engine will generate 7 to 10 psi of maximum positive pressure, or "boost". The turbo charger, or "turbo", is mounted directly to the exhaust manifold, where exhaust gasses pass over a turbine impeller that is attached to a short shaft. On the other side of this shaft is a compressor turbine, which pulls outside air in through the air filter and blows it into the intake manifold. So basically, the energy from the expelled exhaust gasses, which would normally be wasted on a N/A engine, is being used to pump air back into the engine.

help u a bit.. i got nothing to do Embarassed

JLennon SG

useful contribution mods!

now we await the thread on "what is a super charger".....

Master -_- SG

Turbo Chargers vs Super Chargers

Both turbochargers and superchargers are called forced induction systems. They both compress the air flowing into the engine. The reason for compressing the air is that it forces the engine stuff more air in a cylinder. More air means more fuel can be stuffed in too. Therefore you get more power from each explosion in each cylinder. A turbo/supercharged engine produces more power overall than the same engine without.

The average boost provided by either a turbocharger or a supercharger is 6 to 8 PSI. Since normal atmospheric pressure is 14.7 PSI at sea level, you can see that you are getting about 50% more air forced into the engine. Therefore you could expect to get 50% more power. But with luck you might get a 30% to 40% improvement instead.

The main difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger is power supply. Something has to supply the power to run the charger. In a supercharger there is a belt that connects directly to the engine. It gets its power the same way that the alternator or water pump does. A turbocharger, on the other hand, gets its power from the exhaust. The exhaust runs through a turbine which in turn spins the compressor.

There good & bad between both systems. In theory a turbocharger is more efficient because it is using energy from the exhaust stream for its power source. On the other hand, a turbocharger causes some amount of back pressure in the exhaust and tends to provide less boost until the engine is running at higher RPM. Superchargers are easier to install but tend to be more expensive.

jigibut SG

so…pardon me but is it available as a mod for some cars in initial d?