SUPERCHARGER

Take some time to think what a pump really is and what its functions are. Oil, water and fuel pumps are obvious, but include master cylinders, slave cylinders, clutch operating cylinders and even the pump that operates your window washer. These pumps all work in different ways and can be separated into two categories, namely, displacement pumps or centrifugal pumps.

Displacement Pumps are basically Superchargers. Other similar displacement pumps include the oil pump of a car which is a small version of a Roots Blower. Unlike brake master and slave cylinders which are piston pumps. The Roots Blower, which seems to be the fashion of superchargers today, was first patented by the Roots Brothers in the USA in 1860. Roots Blowers were fitted to famous cars during the ‘50s’ and ‘60s’, such as the racing Alfa Romeos, and supercharged Mercedes-Benz racing and touring cars. This type of blower has recently been revived by Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar due to the designs positive action. A typical boost level of a modern production engine is between 70-100 kPa or one-bar. The maximum boost levels are limited to the fuel quality available as detonation occurs at high boost levels.

Superchargers are devices that force an air/fuel mixture into the cylinders than would usually be drawn in under normal atmospheric conditions, so by definition Turbo Chargers are also Superchargers. However, the way in which they function differentiates them into their respective fields.

Superchargers and Turbo’s are used to force a denser, higher volume of air into the combustion chamber thus giving the engine a huge increase in horsepower.  In a normally aspirated engine (one without a turbo or supercharger fitted to it), air must enter the combustion chamber naturally at atmospheric pressure, which at sea level is around 14,7 Psi. At higher altitudes this pressure is even less and thus a normally aspirated engine will perform better at sea level than higher up, inland.

A Turbo or Supercharger will not only increase the pressure of the air entering the combustion chambers, but also the volume of air. Such a high volume of air into the engine increases the power output so dramatically that a 1500 cc supercharged engine can produce as much power as a 3000cc normally aspirated powerplant.

There are various types of Superchargers, but all are driven mechanically by the engine. The turbines in a Supercharger are driven via a belt there off the engine. These turbines spin extremely fast and thereby increase the density of the air which is then forced down into the engine. Whilst a Turbo Charger makes more peak horsepower, a Supercharger delivers that power more instantly.

However, there are downfalls to Supercharging. As with Turbo Charging, heat is a big problem. The speed of the turbines create heat as they collide with and hit air molecules added to the heat created by the mechanical operation itself. This heat is absorbed by the air which the Supercharger is compressing which in turn expands and thereby reduces its density. Thus there is always an objective to increase the efficiency of Superchargers.

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