I was driving my Ford AU ute home last night and I have been thinking for a while the benifits of having Electric motors (ie thermo fan, water pump) Versus belt driven motors that take so much energy from the motor itself. (obvious) Which brought me to thinking, Is an Electric Supercharger a stupid concept? as i remember, a supercharger Drains power from an engine untill it spools up to create positive pressure. I have either stuck my foot in my mouth as it is a STUPID idea, or now someone will roll with it and make millions,
electric superchargers already exist.... look on ebay,they are on there.... i think the general consensus is they dont realy work,also try searching this forum it has come up a couple of times....
Not really viable, however there are electrically assisted turbos which Garrett have been developing. There purpose is to reduce lag by spininng the turbine with the electric motor at lower rpm until the turbo takes over.
that would look something like a hair dryer i assume. The other idea i pondered was to have a small air tank with a compressor attached. the compressor would be filled with air at a certain psi (probably around 60psi) when you get to a certain rev range (so not to the point of changing gears, but really giving it a hard time, say 4k and above- which to me is a hard time) the solanoid would open and give the throttle an extra fang of air, same concept as a tubo/supercharger.. now is that as stupid as it sounds? obviously there would be the AFM to process the extra air, puttin extra fuel, bigger head rest to stock neck snapping....
turbo=intelligent air compressor. unless your talking about the air compressor having direct port injection into the cylinders? which could be possible but would need some tuning to the ecu for it to pump in the extra duel aswell.
Electric superchargers are everywhere on ebay. They cost like $100 and do nothing. The ones on ebay basically sit in your intake and run off the battery like a fan to blow air into the engine. Electric superchargers that actually work can cost as much as a proper supercharger.
IT wouldn't be so much to do with the cost, i'm talking reduction in lagg. you know how a turbo or SC creates Boost, well what if that boost was already captured in a tank and released when needed? i think it would be a great idea.
So kinda like an air compressor? I assume you mean for low boost situations such as take off at lights? That would take up a lot of weight and volume. Not sure if it would be worth the extra boost for the weight gain, if nothing else.
id rather try their electronically assisted turbochargers as said above, sounds like a terrific idea.
I like the tank released idea. Releasing compressed air has the nice effect of the air absorbing heat as it is released, perhaps the turbos would like that? However i'm sure the tyres would spin, and if they didnt somethings gotta give! Yikes. I read somewhere that a lighter flywheel helps with 'spoolup' time on the turbo's. Electric motors are probably less efficient than belts, especially when the alternator/battery combo to supply all those motors are involved. the gains are likely to be found in niceties like reliability, control of speed, electronic monitoring eg detection of jammed fan, or water pump with worn fins so not much power required to push it, etc. I guess it wont be long before car engines are half fuel burning, half motor/generator. Maybe one day i'll convert my z to electric? As soon as they figure out the batteries...
