Supercharging vs Turbocharging

Many people wonder what the difference is in Turbocharging and supercharging of a car. Both concepts are to increase the air intake in order to create more power. When turbochargers were first manufactured they were referred as turbosuperchargers, however there is a difference between the two, but the term has been shortened to turbocharger.

A turbocharger is a fan pump composed of a turbine and a compressor. Exhaust gases from the vehicle drive the turbine which in turn powers the compressor. Essentially, the turbine uses the exhaust gases to cause the rotation of the turbine wheel, this causes more air to enter each cylinder at a very high pressure.

Supercharger refers to a different kind of compressor which is powered by the cranshaft of the engine, often via a chain or a belt .

Both turbochargers and the superchargers improve the efficiency of an engine. This is done by allowing more oxygen to enter each cylinder to increase the torque and the power output of the engine. The housing that fits around the compressor and the turbine not only collects the gas flow they also direct it as the wheels spin. So, the larger the turbocharger the more power the engine will have.

When the pressure is increased it is called boost; this increase in power is generated by the turbocharger from the intake manifold. The boost is measured by a pressure gauge, which is installed on the dashboard of a vehicle.

Turbochargers provide more direct fuel savings than a supercharger. Boost is related to the amount of load that is put on the engine, whereas, a supercharger, is geared more to the engine and is more to increase the vehicles speed which has a very high fuel consumption. Therefore, it is much better to have a larger turbocharger than a small one. The turbo spins at a very high rate, which causes the RPMs to run higher, between 20,000 and 100,000 RPM’s. This high speed would be a problem if the used standard ball bearings, so most turbochargers use fluid bearings that allow a layer of oil to cool the moving parts. Lower friction means that a turbo can be manufactured using much lighter materials.

Many manufacturers that produce turbochargers recommend that people change their oil much more frequently; instead of changing it every 6,000 or 10,000 miles; people with turbochargers should change the oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Turbocharging is very common on diesel engines, such as trucks and locomotives. Diesel engines are naturally aspirated which develop less power than a gasoline engine. This is why diesel engines require much stronger and heavier components. Because of this, the diesel engine will lose power if it were not for Turbocharging.

Today turbochargers are most commonly found not only in diesel engines but on high performance gasoline engines as well. Small cars benefit from this technology, simply because there is not enough room to fit a larger engine underneath the car.

If you were comparing a turbocharger to a supercharger, the supercharger would lose the battle. A supercharger requires energy to be bled from the engine in order to operate. The engine has to burn extra fuel to provide the power for the supercharger to work, which then causes more fuel to be used, and the owner has to spend more money, more often to refuel his vehicle. Turbochargers can achieve more power from an engine with the same volume. They also have better thermal efficiency because the excess exhaust pressure contributes some of the work that is required to compress the air.