electric supercharger

pinchvalve wrote: I was thinking a supercharger for a Nissan Leaf.

You can increase voltage to the motor until you get arcing inside it...

GameboyRMH wrote: That's bleeding edge stuff. It may be theoretically possible but nothing you can get off the shelf is any good. You'll need a Serious Horsepower electric motor (maybe 25-40hp) and you'll need to upgrade the car's electrical system to be able to power it. An then you're going engine power -> alternator -> high-amp cable -> motor -> boost instead of engine power -> boost...

...and at this point, youd probably only break even in terms of HP/LB when you factor in the increased power versus the weight added with the extra equipment.

Toby wrote: In reply to BoostedBrandon: Thanks Brandon...probably have an 18vdc portable that gets close? These (like above) are fairly well developed blowers (efficiency). Seen one 12vdc?

Don't spool the blower - keep it running and dumping then when you want it - close the valve. I'm not convinced the load hitting the aternator won't still be worse than belt driving it but... its going to be better than turning the motor on/off

What about a freebee? Duct the bellhousing and use the air pressure developed by the spinning flywheel to pressurize the intake? Add some fins to the pressure plate to help...

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: What about a freebee? Duct the bellhousing and use the air pressure developed by the spinning flywheel to pressurize the intake? Add some fins to the pressure plate to help...

Smokey did just that in the late 50's, one of his many "gray area" rules that were cleared up in the next rule book..

GameboyRMH wrote: Keep in mind that a lot of traditional superchargers have electromagnetic clutches on them that would make the same thing possible without the loss of efficiency while running...

The air bypass method works just as well, and a clutched blower requires an air bypass anyway, so why add complication?

IIRC, Toyota only did it because their supercharger wasn't rated to turn all the time, and Mercedes did it because they're Mercedes.

I'm surprised not to have seen any mention Vishnu's Phantom electric supercharger for Miata and BRZ. The source is well respected, and it looks from here like someone's actually pulled off this thing which has been pie-in-the-sky for so long.

http://www.hotrod.com/feature_stories/1310_leaf_blower_supercharging/

What if you used the exhaust pressure from your engine to spin an impeller which was in turn connected to another which was used to pressurize air and force that air into the engine?

I bet if you added some fuel and had a way to release that pressure through some sort of valve... And if you could just cool that incoming air...

Cute.

I see guys spending 5 large on Superchargers that don't make much more power than this. And I see a lot of turbocharger setups that have ongoing issues with cracked manifolds and such. Seems like if you can get near to 200whp for 2 large, that's not too bad an idea. Max torque at 2000 RPM? Yeah, that sucks

In reply to kreb:

I'm on board with you. It's gotta possible. I've been thinking about this since I was a teen!

But alas, I'm not smart enough!

The most productive execution of 'electric supercharging' is simply using an electric motor/generator to spool up a turbo center section faster than the engine otherwise would. You can also do a couple of other things like using the generator to control shaft speed rather than a wastegate, and REALLY lower shaft speed to increase engine braking, etc.

Vigo wrote: The most productive execution of 'electric supercharging' is simply using an electric motor/generator to spool up a turbo center section faster than the engine otherwise would. You can also do a couple of other things like using the generator to control shaft speed rather than a wastegate, and REALLY lower shaft speed to increase engine braking, etc.

AKA F1 TERS

Not sure what your objection to a conventional turbo is. Turbo lag is a thing of the past if one assumes proper choice of turbo unit, and the fact that a turbo engine doesn't give torque right from the ground up is easily overcome by simply running the engine above 2500 all the time - easy for those that know how to drive.

The turbo on my Ecotec develops maximum torque by around 1600 rpm.....

What about something for short term use, say for drag racing, or autocross runs?

You have an electric supercharger that runs independently of the car's electrical system, and is powered by a replaceable and rechargeable battery pack. The batteries are good enough for one day of running (or even one or two runs), and then you can charge them back up on the power grid.

No parasitic loss, no extra strain on the alternator.

That could work if the weight is worth it. I've seen a similar concept on a hillclimb car - it was boosted by an aircraft APU.

I have no objection to turbo technology, other than the fact that a trick aftermarket system with all the goodies (engine management, intercooler, upgraded injectors, upgraded cooling system et cetera) is a lot of money. And even with all that stuff, guys who do serious track days often say that their setups are still high maintenance. It also just adds a lot more crap to already crowded modern engine bays.

What this looks like is something that would be perfect for an autocross, drag race, or for a hair dresser who's tired of being teased It's not a viable open track option, but would appear to be a great niche technology.

Ye canna defy the laws o' physics, Cap'n.

AKA F1 TERS

Yes, although that is new and the idea itself is older.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Ye canna defy the laws o' physics, Cap'n.

Search YouTube for "Leno garage Ricardo hyboost"

This exists, and I need it.

I can't seem to link YouTube, but it's everything you want plus a bag of chips. Hess' law or something...

http://www.ricardo.com/en-GB/What-we-do/Technical-Consulting/Research--Technology/HyBoost---Intelligent-Electrification/

If it was a short burst you could run it off compressed air maybe. High pressure low volume spinning low pressure high volume. Mercedes has a toy they were playing with that used the exhaust heat to run a turbine as a power assist. Certainly all that residual heat will make steam easily enough. I am not sure why it never went anywhere.

kreb wrote: I have no objection to turbo technology, other than the fact that a trick aftermarket system with all the goodies (engine management, intercooler, upgraded injectors, upgraded cooling system et cetera) is a lot of money.

Get any real boost out of an electric supercharger, and you'd need that too.

MadScientistMatt wrote:

kreb wrote: I have no objection to turbo technology, other than the fact that a trick aftermarket system with all the goodies (engine management, intercooler, upgraded injectors, upgraded cooling system et cetera) is a lot of money.

Get any real boost out of an electric supercharger, and you'd need that too.

QFT!

The reason you need to upgrade all of those items isnt because of the device supplying the extra air. It is because you have all this extra air. If you do nothing to inject more fuel or cool the air charge, you wont make any more power and will probably have catastrophic failures.

Rob R.