Pros And Cons Of Superchargers

Turbochargers vs. Superchargers

Turbochargers and superchargers are both great ways to add a tremendous amount of horsepower to any engine very quickly. They both have unique properties about themselves, and also unique ways they work. For instance turbos and superchargers are types of turbines. When driving in a car equipped with one of these devices, the driver will feel the rush when the immense power throws them back into their seat. There are also many other benefits that come with installing one of these dev ices, such as fuel economy and efficiency. Turbochargers and superchargers are attachments that can be bolted on to an engine to gain a considerable amount of horsepower, torque, and many other performance gains. They both have different

Some of the pros are; “significant increase in horsepower, gives smaller engines a chance to gain much more power relative to their size, gets better fuel economy with engines that use less fuel to idle, turbochargers run off gases that would be expelled through the exhaust pipe and improves the efficiency”(“The Pros and”… page 1). There are also some cons of turbochargers, and one of the main ones is called “turbo lag”. Turbo lag is caused because it takes time to spool up the turbocharger, which means you will not receive your full power boost right away. Another big con of a turbochargers is that when they finally kick in, the power surges and could result in a collision or a crash. One of the last major cons of a turbo is that they require the use of oil. Since the turbine spins at such high rates it must be oiled so it does not corrode or break. Another Con of the turbo is that it exposes the engine internals to high pressures and temperature, putting stress on the engine. Turbochargers are also efficient devices, they can be considered as recyclers because they are powered by the exhaust

The turbocharger was invented in 1905 by Alfred Buchi. He was the head of the diesel engine research, at Sulzer. The patent stated “the energy of the exhaust of the engine to increase the fuel-air mixture flow and thus performance can be increased”, (“History of turbocharging…page 1”). In the year 1919 General electric successfully installed a working turbocharger on an airplane. In 1962 and 1963 the first two production turbocharged cars were introduced, the Chevrolet Corvair Monza, and the Oldsmobile Jetfire. In the 1970’s turbocharging really started to boom, it was starting to be used in many formula 1 cars, and many diesel cars coming to the market. The supercharger first comes about in 1896 when Rudolf Diesel first filed his patent for using a supercharger on his diesel engine. Then in 1907 Lee Chadwick thought of the idea to pressurize an engine to increase efficiency. He first used a 8-inch diameter compressor, connected to the flywheel which spun 5 times faster than the engine. In 1908 is when Chadwick won the Great Despair hill climb, and began producing similar supercharged cars. In 1908 he also decided to change the power source to the crankshaft connected to a belt. Boats and airplanes were some of the first crafts to distinguish the use of turbochargers and supercharger, which it then evolved into the