An Electric Supercharger that acutally works.

[MasterAndCommander]

Text

 

[wedi42]

i'm gonna put one of these
on my civic, then i'll power it with this

 

[acemcmac]

neat

 

[Armitage]

I wonder how that would work on a hybrid? Lot's of battery power available, but you may be better off just dumping it straight to the wheels.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

That's cool. Now all they need is a windpowered one that spins up as you accelerate.

 

[fbrdphreak]

That is freakin' cool! Can't wait to see that available, sounds like a sweet DIY project

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
That's cool. Now all they need is a windpowered one that spins up as you accelerate.

Can anyone say RAM air? 😀

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak
That is freakin' cool! Can't wait to see that available, sounds like a sweet DIY project

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
That's cool. Now all they need is a windpowered one that spins up as you accelerate.

Can anyone say RAM air? 😀

That won't work at any speed a normal car is gonna go unless you have next to nothing in friction loss and no resistance.

 

[thirdeye]

Did you look at the dates on that article? VERY old and not too promising since we've heard nothing since.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

I'll stick with my belt-driven blower, thanks.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: thirdeye
Did you look at the dates on that article? VERY old and not too promising since we've heard nothing since.

Wrong!

http://www.boosthead.com/product.php?id=18

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Armitage
I wonder how that would work on a hybrid? Lot's of battery power available, but you may be better off just dumping it straight to the wheels.

I'm sure it'd be a better idea to dump it straight to the wheels.

Plug in hybrids are the future. They can make hybrids just as easily for performance as they can for efficiency...I'm sure in a couple years they will own the roads.

 

[thirdeye]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Originally posted by: thirdeye
Did you look at the dates on that article? VERY old and not too promising since we've heard nothing since.

Wrong!

http://www.boosthead.com/product.php?id=18

Well that's cool that it's available, but considering the last update on the article was over 2 years ago, it didn't seem to awesome.

 

[AdamSnow]

I'll stick with my real Turbo... 😉

 

[thirdeye]

Originally posted by: AdamSnow
I'll stick with my real Turbo... 😉

Real turbos are for fools....

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Armitage
I wonder how that would work on a hybrid? Lot's of battery power available, but you may be better off just dumping it straight to the wheels.

I'm sure it'd be a better idea to dump it straight to the wheels.

I dunno - on a normal supercharged engine it's obviously better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger instead of directly to the wheels. Why would this be different?

Plug in hybrids are the future. They can make hybrids just as easily for performance as they can for efficiency...I'm sure in a couple years they will own the roads.

 

[Aquila76]

Wow, this thing can be bolted on to my '96 Grand Am, according to the product selector. Too bad it costs $600 more than the car is worth!
http://www.boosthead.com/home.php

 

[Aquila76]

nvm

 

[iamaelephant]

LOL, I always have a chuckle at these electric superchargers. Haha, 3.0l max. Hehehe.

 

[LTC8K6]

better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger

That makes it sound like a supercharger doesn't take much horsepower. It actually takes a lot of horsepower to turn a supercharger. 50hp wouldn't be unusual.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Armitage
I wonder how that would work on a hybrid? Lot's of battery power available, but you may be better off just dumping it straight to the wheels.

no point, they already drive the wheels like on the hybrid accord where it gets more hp than the standard model. or the lexus suv.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Armitage
I wonder how that would work on a hybrid? Lot's of battery power available, but you may be better off just dumping it straight to the wheels.

I'm sure it'd be a better idea to dump it straight to the wheels.

I dunno - on a normal supercharged engine it's obviously better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger instead of directly to the wheels. Why would this be different?

But hybrids have nice electric motors, which drive the wheels directly. The very SLIGHT power gains you'd get from an electric motor compressing air to burn in the (small) gasoline engine on a hybrid would be nothing compared to using that power directly on the wheels.

The reason that works for "normal" superchargers is that there's much less energy conversion going on. Think about it. Normal supercharger: mechanical energy ->supercharger->compresses air into engine->more mechanical energy to wheels. Electric supercharger: Mechanical energy ->alternator ->electrical energy -> supercharger->mechanical energy->compresses air->more mechanical energy to wheels.

Every time you change energy from one form to another, you lose some. It's a much better idea to jury-rig a real supercharger into your car than to waste your money on an electric.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6

better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger

That makes it sound like a supercharger doesn't take much horsepower. It actually takes a lot of horsepower to turn a supercharger. 50hp wouldn't be unusual.

That's irrelevant - the point is that taking some power from the engine to drive the supercharger results in getting more then that amount of power back from the engine. Whether it takes 50HP or 500HP doesn't matter, as long as you get that much back + some extra.

So the question is, could you do the same thing with this electric supercharger. Draw off some amount of battery power to run the supercharger (instead of the wheels directly) to get that power back + some extra from the engine.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: LTC8K6

better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger

That makes it sound like a supercharger doesn't take much horsepower. It actually takes a lot of horsepower to turn a supercharger. 50hp wouldn't be unusual.

That's irrelevant - the point is that taking some power from the engine to drive the supercharger results in getting more then that amount of power back from the engine. Whether it takes 50HP or 500HP doesn't matter, as long as you get that much back + some extra.

So the question is, could you do the same thing with this electric supercharger. Draw off some amount of battery power to run the supercharger (instead of the wheels directly) to get that power back + some extra from the engine.

Youre missing the point though...energy is energy. No transduction is 100% efficient, so every single time you convert the energy, you lose some.

The electric motor powers the wheels directly. The supercharger just forces more air into the engine, which then powers the motor. That one extra step is just a waste of energy. Unless the electric motor is horrifically inefficient, which is very unlikely, it is going to be a waste to pump it through the SC.


The only use I see in an electric supercharger is that if the same SC can run on both the belt and the electricity - then there would be no need for the motor at all, and it would save on cost, even if it would be less efficient.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: LTC8K6

better to take a fraction of the engine power and dump it into the supercharger

That makes it sound like a supercharger doesn't take much horsepower. It actually takes a lot of horsepower to turn a supercharger. 50hp wouldn't be unusual.

That's irrelevant - the point is that taking some power from the engine to drive the supercharger results in getting more then that amount of power back from the engine. Whether it takes 50HP or 500HP doesn't matter, as long as you get that much back + some extra.

So the question is, could you do the same thing with this electric supercharger. Draw off some amount of battery power to run the supercharger (instead of the wheels directly) to get that power back + some extra from the engine.

Youre missing the point though...energy is energy. No transduction is 100% efficient, so every single time you convert the energy, you lose some.

The electric motor powers the wheels directly. The supercharger just forces more air into the engine, which then powers the motor. That one extra step is just a waste of energy. Unless the electric motor is horrifically inefficient, which is very unlikely, it is going to be a waste to pump it through the SC.

Yea, I realize that of course. But if you put the energy into the SC, you get all of it back and then some from the engine. Say you have 1000 extra watts laying around - you can put it straight into the wheels and get 1000 watts of forward motion out of it. Or you could dump it into the SC and get maybe 1500 extra watts out of the engine which you can now dump to the wheels and get 1500 watts to the ground.

The only use I see in an electric supercharger is that if the same SC can run on both the belt and the electricity - then there would be no need for the motor at all, and it would save on cost, even if it would be less efficient.