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Turbochargers | Turbo Directory

A turbocharger is an exhaust gas driven compressor that is used in internal combustion engines to increase the amount of power output of the engine by increasing the mass or quantity of oxygen entering the engine.

One of the main advantages of turbochargers is that they offer a considerable increase in engine power with only a small increase in weight. A turbocharger is an exhaust gas driven supercharger. Because the turbine of a turbocharger is in-itself a heat engine, a turbocharger equipped engine will normally compress the intake air more efficiently than a mechanical supercharger does. Turbo-Alternator is a type of turbocharger that generates electricity instead of boosting engine's air flow. The first production turbocharged automobile engines came from General Motors. Because turbo lag happens, engines with mechanical superchargers are usually more responsive. The engine speed (rpm) is referred to as the boost threshold but the disadvantage of lag does not apply to specifically designed turbocharged diesel engines.

A main disadvantage of high boost pressures for internal combustion engines is that compressing the inlet air increases its temperature. Accelerating at 1400 engine rpm and having no boost until 2000 engine rpm is an example of boost threshold and not an example of lag. To manage the upper-deck air pressure, the turbocharger's exhaust gas flow is regulated with a thing called a wastegate which bypasses excess exhaust gas that enters the turbocharger's turbine. The use of synthetic oils is often recommended in turbo engines. After high speed operation of the engine it is important to let the engine run at idle speed for one to three minutes before turning it off. Lag conversely on light loads or at low rpm a turbocharger supplies less boost and the engine is more efficient than a supercharged engine.

On modern diesel engines, this problem is virtually eliminated by using a variable geometry turbocharger. Boost is when gasoline or petrol engines often require extensive modification for turbocharging. The higher intake charge temperatures of forced-induction engines can reduce the amount of compression that is possible with a gasoline or petrol engine while diesel engines are far less prone. Nowadays turbocharging is most commonly used on two types of engines, petrol or gasoline engines in high-performance cars and diesel engines in work trucks and lorries. In aftermarket applications, aircraft turbochargers sometimes don't overboost the engine, but rather compress ambient air to sea-level pressure.