Turbochargers Versus Superchargers

Turbochargers Versus Superchargers

What is forced induction? Forced induction is a term used to describe a combustion engine. The difference between a naturally aspirated engine and a force inducted engine is that the force inducted engine forces more oxygen into the cylinder. This allows more fuel to be used per stroke, giving each stroke more power. Two common parts create this force induction system   very well. They are the supercharger and the turbocharger but one of them does it better than the other.

A turbocharger needs a couple key components to do its job. Two fundamental components are the turbine and the compressor. The purpose of the turbine is to take the engines wasted exhaust and translate it into rotational motion. This rotational motion is then used to drive the compressor, which compresses air for the consumption of the engine. The point of using a turbocharger is to surpass a combustion engine’s volumetric efficiency limit. An engine drawing in the surrounding air can only achieve a volumetric efficiency of up to 100%, meaning that the pressure inside an individual cylinder is equal to atmospheric pressure while the intake cycle is occurring. Since the amount of power that can be extracted from an engine is proportional to the fuel it burns, and the fuel consumption is limited by the amount of air present in a cylinder, times the number of cylinders (the so-called "displacement"), the volumetric efficiency limit effectively constrains the power of the engine. To make an engine more powerful, one must increase its displacement (Veltman, 2010).

Unfortunately, the downside to this is that the engine burns more fuel no matter what,   negatively impacting the fuel mileage. The turbocharger provides an alternative means of extracting more power from a given displacement by increasing the volumetric efficiency to points significantly above 100%. The pressure in the engine’s cylinders is greater than the atmospheric pressure because of the...