What are
Superchargers?
Supercharger is a device used for forceful air induction
inside the combustion chamber. Since the development of internal combustion
engines, engineers have been looking for ways to increase the power output of
an engine without adding much weight to the engine. Superchargers in a way
prove to be one of the major breakthroughs in achieving so.
Superchargers force more air to be supplied to the
combustion chamber during the intake stroke in order to allow the fuel
injection system to inject more fuel. In other words, superchargers send more
oxygen to the combustion chamber to form an oxygen rich air-fuel mixture. Oxygen
rich air-fuel mixture will result in greater horsepower and also higher torque
during the power stroke. A normal engine if supercharged would produce 40% to
50% more horsepower and 30% more torque.
What is the
difference between a supercharger and a turbocharger?
As we are aware that turbochargers also help in forced
induction of air to the combustion chamber, the difference between turbocharger
and supercharger is the power source from which it gets its drive. Turbocharger
is run by the exhaust gas flow, whereas supercharger is run via a belt drive
from engine.
Types of
Superchargers:
There are 3 types of superchargers:
·
Centrifugal supercharger
All the 3 superchargers are driven by the engine crankshaft
via a belt or chain drive.
Centrifugal
Supercharger:
In a centrifugal supercharger, the entire setup is housed in
volute shaped housing. The drive from the crankshaft is connected to a drive
gear which is larger and has more number of teeth. The drive gear is meshed
with a smaller driven gear with less number of teeth.
The gear ratio between drive and driven gear is to ensure
that the driven gear rotates at a higher rpm. The impeller is connected to the
driven gear. An internal oil gear is provided to run the oil pump for
lubrication. The oil gear is meshed to the other side of the driven gear.
Working of Centrifugal
Supercharger:
The drive from the crankshaft is transmitted to the drive
gear, which in turn rotates the driven gear at a higher rpm. A normal
supercharger driven gear rotates at a speed range of 50,000 rpm to 65,000 rpm.
The driven gear spins the impeller at the same speed. The
impeller sucks the air from the atmosphere and compresses the air due to
centrifugal force. In other words, as the air whirls from the center of the
impeller towards the outer diameter of the impeller, it gets pressurized.
The pressurized air is sent to the intake manifold via the
discharge side. A centrifugal supercharger generates very low amount of heat.
It generally doesn’t require an intercooler to cool down the compressed air.
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