What Is A Supercharger?

There are three main kinds of ways that a vehicles engine can produce power. The most typical is a conventional engine. The second most typical is a turbocharged engine. And finally, the third way is via supercharged engine. However, what is a supercharger? Additionally, why would it be utilized over a conventional engine or turbocharged engine?

NOTE: When installing a supercharger, it is recommended to also upgrade your torque converter.

Superchargers are a mechanical – or in recent years, an electronic – air compressor that is attached to the engine and is used for forcing additional air into its combustion chamber.

Mechanical Supercharger

Mechanical superchargers are the most typical kind of superchargers. They date back to the late eighteen hundreds. The 3 most typical kinds of superchargers in an automotive application are the centrifugal, Lysholm twin-screw and Roots.

Centrifugal Superchargers
A centrifugal supercharger is a specific type of supercharger that utilizes natural centrifugal energy forcing additional oxygen into the engine. This increased airflow enables the engine to burn more fuel resulting in increased engine power output.
Lysholm Twin-Screw Superchargers
Lysholm twin-screw superchargers are positive-displacement superchargers, and it uses twin close-tolerance screw like rotors for compressing air. These are equivalent to worm gears.
Roots Supercharger
Roots style superchargers use two lobes that mesh to one another with air being compressed into cavities between the lobes. In some applications, three lobes can be used for compressing the air.

Electric Supercharger

In contrast, electric superchargers are a somewhat new technology with their inception in the nineteen nineties by BorgWarner. It utilizes the vehicle’s electrical power for spinning a compressor, forcing air into the engine. Nevertheless, the standard 12-Volt power supply isn’t enough which is why only somewhat recently, with the adaptation of 48-Volt power supplies, electric superchargers have become a little more common in vehicle applications.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Supercharger

Below are just some instances of the advantages and disadvantages of superchargers. Keep reading to lean more.

Advantages

The main advantage of a supercharger is that it gives an instant response dissimilar to a turbocharger. Since it is powered by the engine, it is continually providing a specific quantity of boost. As the engine’s RPMs get higher, the quantity of boost created also gets higher. This higher boost is additionally much more progressive than in a vehicle with a turbocharger.

One other advantage of superchargers is that they can function with less additional components than an engine that has a turbocharger. In many cases, there isn’t a requirement for pipes to redirect the pressurized air and oftentimes, there isn’t a requirement for an intercooler either. These by contrast, decrease the complexity and expense.

Disadvantages

One of the biggest disadvantages of a supercharger is that they are ineffective in comparison to turbochargers. In many cases, an additional 1/3 of the engine’s crank shaft power is necessary for driving a supercharger. In addition, the internal engine efficiency of a supercharger is lower than that of a turbocharger since a turbo utilizes energy from the exhaust that might otherwise be squandered. This is the primary reason why a lot of vehicles on the roads today utilize a turbocharger rather than a supercharger.