At The Haus we continue our efforts to educate our clients on how certain parts of their engine work. The Turbo Charger was invented by Swiss engineer Alfred Buchi. The purpose was to take advantage of the exhaust gas produced by the engine. Even in today’s world, aircraft, boats, and automobiles are equipped with turbo engines. Airplanes have turbo charged engines to tolerate low air pressure and high altitudes. Cruise ships and boats also use turbo charged diesel engines. Engines that have turbos are known as turbo charged engines.

A standard turbo that is used in cars, planes, and boats is composed of a shaft with a turbine wheel on one end and a compressor wheel on the other end. The turbine wheel and the compressor wheel look identical and are covered by a housing. The exhaust gas that is produced by the engine, enters the turbine housing through the inlet port. At this point thermal energy is converted to kinetic energy because of the constriction inside the turbine, subsequently the turbine is driven by kinetic energy. As the compressor and turbine share the same shaft the compressor wheel spins at the same time as the turbine wheel, consequently the compressor wheel draws in air and compresses it. Then the air passes through the outer port of the turbine and supplies the engine with oxygen.

Turbo engines only work efficiently if other components are part of the entire system. Other components that are necessary for the turbo are a intercooler and a waste gate. The intercooler comes into play when the air heats up when it is compressed in the turbo. The intercooler will cool down the hot air coming from the compressor ensuring more oxygen reaches the engine. This helps the engine become more efficient. The waste gate is used to divert away excess gas away from the turbine when too much excess gas is produced by the engine. It limits the speed of the turbine wheel and the compressor wheel so that the so that the turbo charger will not get damaged.

There are many benefits to having a turbo charged engine. Comparing an engine with a turbo and to one without that produces the same amount of power, is that the engine with the turbo will use less fuel. With the engine being smaller than a naturally aspirated engine with the same power it produces less noise than the non-turbo charged engine. Turbo charged engines also perform much better at high altitude.

Gasoline engines require air pressure to burn fuel and generate power, at higher altitudes there is less air pressure, so non turbo charged engines will produce much less power. With a turbo charged engine the power generation actually improves, this is because there is a greater pressure difference between the air pressure ahead of the turbo and the lower air pressure at the exhaust. The turbo charger increases the density of air entering the engine which generates more power. Turbo charged engines are usually smaller than non-turbo charged engines which them lighter and more efficient. A turbo charged engine being smaller than a regular engine, burns less fuel and in doing so generates less environmentally unfriendly pollution.

If you have any questions regarding your turbo charger or any other part of your car please don’t hesitate to call us at (855) 572-6464