YACT: How does a turbocharger work? :X

[gnuel3]

I'm a total newb so I have no clue...heh

How much HP does it add or is it just a quick boost or something else?

 

[boyRacer]

Text

 

[Viper GTS]

Duh

Viper GTS

 

[notfred]

It's an air pump that forces more air into the engine. The amount of power gained is dependant upon the amount of extra air the turbocharger forces into the motor.

 

[Heisenberg]

A turbo charger is basically an air compressor that runs off the exhaust gases. It forces air into the motor under pressure which means more air per given volume, and therefore more power. They typically add about 10-25% more power.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Turbochargers increase power by increasing the ammount of airflow through the engine. Think of an engine as an air pump. The more air/fuel you can push through an engine the higher volumetric efficiency you will have (i.e. more power). Turbos work by force-feeding air into the intake manifold which in turn forces more air through the heads into the combustion chamber. This is known as boost. Boost will change the compression ratio in an engine because more fuel/air is being burned with each combustion stroke. You can't run boost without adjusting for more fuel. If you run too much boost without properly adjusting the fuel/air mix to compensate (14:1 is ideal) then you will detonate which will cause MAJOR damage. Detonaton can be defined as explosion...contrary to popular belief, the fuel in the combustion chamber does NOT "explode", it's a controlled burn. Explosions cause damamge, a controlled burn expands air and makes compression. That's why fuel/air mix is important. Too lean and you detonate, too rich and you foul plugs because the fuel isn't being burned efficiently.

Example: Engine X runs 7:1 compression naturally aspirated and has a volumetric efficiency rating of 1 (one HP for every cubic inch, or a 350ci engine making 350HP). Add 7lbs boost to engine X, dump extra fuel in to even out the mixture and viola compression jumps up to 10:1 and now since engine X is consuming a larger ammount of fuel and air per stroke without changing the volume of the engine, the volumetric efficiency just went up to 1.5 (now that 350ci engine is churning out 525HP @ 7lbs boost...Yes I am making all of these numbers up just to illustrate a concept) get it?

A turbo is essentially two impellers hooked together on a spindal. The exhaust is routed through one of these impellers and the pressure from the exhaust spins it. This impeller turns the other impeller which sucks fresh air in and pumps it into the intake manifold. One fundamental problem with this is the heat from the exhaust gas heating up the air flowing into the engine and causing cooling problems. This is cured with an intercooler which is basically a radiator for the exhaust gas to cool it down before it gets to the turbo.

Anyway, I'm spent. You can read about it all over the iNt4rw38!!

BTW: Nitrous Oxide follows the same principal. Essentially it's liquid boost. Chills the air and cold air is denser than hot air right? right. More air/more fuel, blah, blah, blah, same old song and dance over again.

Centrifugal super chargers (not to be confused with twin screw super chargers) work just like a turbo except that the impeller is driven with a belt. You get better response because there is no waiting on the turbo to "spool up" . However some drawbacks are that a supercharger is always boosting and has more parasitic loses than a turbo.