Turbochargers
Homepage Aspiration Superchargers Turbochargers Uses Bibliography
| To the right is a
turbocharger in real life. As you can see it has all the main
components such as the turbine wheel in the center,
exhaust gas discharge, and the waste gate which is the
black tube in the picture. Turbochargers are useful
because they make the vehicle faster as well as help the
overall performance of the vehicle. They do this by
using the wasted heat energy from the exhaust gasses to
run through the turbine which creates more pressure in
the cylinder of the engine, thus creating "Boost" which
is a measure of how much air psi (Pounds per Square
Inch) is in the cylinder. Looking at the PV=nRT
equation, it shows that a higher pressure, P, will
result in a smaller volume (Since they are indirectly
related), thus, compressed allowing more fuel to be
burned at the same time giving the engine more power;
however, since P and T are directly related the turbo
will need an inner cooler to help keep the air cold.
Since the turbo depends on the amount of exhaust flowing
through the turbine, there can be a "turbo lag", thus
causing the car to not have the same boost in lower
RPMs. The higher the RPM's generally the faster the
vehicle will go because there is more exhaust fumes
traveling through the turbine which turns the
compressor. However there is a limit due to the size of
the pistons for how much fuel can be burned with the
right air and fuel mixture. |
|
| Cool air enters the
engine's air intake and heads toward the compressor. The
compressor fan helps to suck air in. The compressor
squeezes and heats up the incoming air and blows it out
again. Hot, compressed air from the compressor passes
through the heat ex-changer, which cools it down. Cooled,
compressed air enters the cylinder's air intake. The extra
oxygen helps to burn fuel in the cylinder at a faster
rate. Since the cylinder burns more fuel, it produces
energy more quickly and can send more power to the wheels
via the piston, shafts, and gears. Waste gas from the
cylinder exits through the exhaust outlet. The hot exhaust
gases blowing past the turbine fan make it rotate at high
speed thus causing no horsepower to run the turbo which
means it's essentially "free" boost. The spinning turbine
is mounted on the same shaft as the compressor. So, as the
turbine spins, the compressor spins too. The exhaust gas
leaves the car, wasting less energy than it would
otherwise. |
 |