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  1. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    400
    #11
    actually i think it would make sense for a supercharger to have an intercooler kasi ang function naman ng intercooler ay palamigin yung hangin na pumapasok sa combustion chamber. matanong nga si pareng Ace Vergel...
    Supercharger doesn't need an intercooler.

    As a simple analogy, the turbocharger uses hot exhaust to drive a turbine, so the air getting sucked in gets heated up. By putting in an intercooler, the compressed air is cooled using passing ambient air and gets closer to ambient temps.

    The supercharger uses a belt to drive a turbine or screw. The air getting sucked in does not get heated up. Since an intercooler works with ambient temp, cooling air at ambient temp with external air at ambient temp obviously wont bring any benefit and will only make the intake tract more complicated, thus losing power.

    Same principle for NA cars... Intercoolers are totally useless unless you find something else to cool the intake charge with. Having an air-to-coolant IC instead of air-to-air might be a good idea, but in most cases you'll need a large volume of coolant to offset heating up due to friction. Most likely its not worth it.

  2. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    377
    #12
    di ba the cooler the air, the more dense it becomes kaya more air molecules ang magkakasya sa combustion chamber kung malamig ang hangin. if what you're saying is true, e di wala rin silbi ang mga cold air intakes?

  3. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    400
    #13
    a lot of people do say that cai is useless.

    i think cai helps a bit because it allows your car to take cooler air from outside, instead of from inside the engine bay which gets quite hot.

  4. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    370
    #14
    splerdu,

    Any form of forced induction will benefit from an intercooler.
    The heat mostly comes from the act of compressing the air itself not the radiated heat of the exhaust turbine.

    A reason why most if not all aftermarket street roots type SC's don't have an IC is bec of cost, added complexity & bulk vs the relatively low efficiency.

    In pro racing it's a different story, the technology & mods you see is only limited by depth of pockets & rules.

    kevinp,

    There has been a lot of research into how to make turbo's more responsive, most of them for one reason or another still aren't commercially viable yet.
    Before the electro or magnacharger(i think this was what the system you just described was called) there's also the Hydracharger(uses a hydraulic pump to pressurize fluid & sends the fluid in regulated amounts to keep lag to a minimum) whose rights were bought by Garrett from the developer(but was eventually reverted back to him by Garrett), as well as the Aerocharger( a VATN turbo).

    Only the Aerocharger is commercially available, Garrett has it's own version of the VATN which they added to their product line a few years ago.

    It costs about 40-50% more than a standard turbo of the same size, iirc.

  5. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    142
    #15
    kevin, yes some superchargers have intercoolers, like the one in toyota's 4A-GZE

  6. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    370
    #16
    Found out an interesting & exciting tidbit of info over the weekend.

    The new Nissan Patrol uses a VATN turbo.

  7. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    9,894
    #17
    auto_xer said it...and actually some (semi) affordable street S/C applications now come with front-mounted intercooler (FMIC) options - ASA of Germany and Active Autowerke of Miami being two notable examples. Pretty decent claims of hp gains too.

    IMO the only feasible way to minimize turbo lag currently is to use small turbos...the OEMs do this the best. I have driven the 993 model Porsche 911 Turbo and the Mark IV Toyota Supra (both stock) and neither of them have any turbo lag or non-linear power delivery that I could detect (but then again, I'm no expert).

    Oh, and one more difference between the two - boost tuning is much easier with turbos...meaning with an electronic controller, you can control the level of boost (and resulting hp) from the cockpit as you please. As opposed to the S/C where a pulley change would be necessary.

  8. Join Date
    Oct 2002
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    4,614
    #18
    Auto_Xer,

    what is a VATN turbo?

  9. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    9,894
    #19
    VATN - Variable Area Turbine something. Not sure how it works but supposedly this type of turbo allows smoother/more consistent power delivery from low to high RPM...

  10. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    10,603
    #20
    Is the VATN different from a VG Turbo like in the thai spec strada? (Variable Geometry)

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Turbochargers and Superchargers