Electrically-driven supercharger said to be ready for production
Controlled Power Technologies claims its new electrically-driven supercharger is ready for production and the company is looking for OEM customers. With so many automakers moving to smaller displacement engines with turbocharging to provide power as needed, this could be an excellent alternative. An electrically-driven boosting system would give engineers greater flexibility in packaging. Installing a turbocharger requires plumbing from the exhaust side of the engine to the intake. An electric supercharger can be mounted close to the intake ports allowing for quicker boost response when the driver needs to accelerate. The engine management system can spin up the electric motor on demand so that boost can also build faster. Such a system would also have much lower parasitic losses than a mechanically-driven blower.
A electric blower could also be used to take advantage of the extra electric power available from a brake energy regeneration system such as that used by BMW, even without a full hybrid system. CPT also claims that the electric blower can reduce the particulate emissions of a diesel engine, because it responds better at low engine speeds. Because of the low investment required to implement the electric supercharger, CPT is hoping for some niche manufacturers to take up the device.
[Source: Controlled Power Technologies]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doug 1:31PM (9/29/2008)
This is a pretty old idea, isn't it?
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oldraven 2:01PM (9/29/2008)
Incredibly old.
Take five minutes and browse Ebay, ABG.
f1tifoso 12:20PM (10/02/2008)
Oldraven:
Ebay stuff is junk -
the CPU must be reprogrammed and the device accounted for - otherwise it is of little to no benefit - just because you stuff in more air doesn't mean it will automatically be able to use it...
Aftermarket could work on this of course, but to be cost effective the OEM's must do it
ron 1:32PM (9/29/2008)
FINALLY!
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Woodenbee 1:41PM (9/29/2008)
its an old idea that wasn't viable till now, with better on car electrics and turbo design it can now be realized. Now its up to the automakers to implement it, but lets face it, in the US fuel economy hasn't exactly been job 1, more like how can we produce cars that waste the most fuel while suppressing all other technologies??
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Rich 1:51PM (9/29/2008)
They should make it available to hot rod shops and such. Write up a nice user manual, application guide, sample software and it'll be a hit!
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oldraven 2:05PM (9/29/2008)
Also note the worlds smallest compressor inlet. Hah! That's smaller than a smart turbo inlet, which can't swallow my thumb.
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Chris M 9:47PM (10/05/2008)
How would you know? That photo isn't "life sized", it could be much bigger than it appears here.
oldraven 11:46AM (10/07/2008)
Take a close look at the size of the nut on that compressor shaft. It's pretty damn huge, compared to this typical Centrifugal Supercharger. http://www.v6calibra.net/tuning/images/supercharger1.jpg Considering the size of that Compressor housing and the size of the nut, I'd say that's one tiny inlet.
This http://www.raptorsc.com.au/images/sc_1.jpg is considered a compact C. SC.
Another for comparison.
http://www.350z-tech.com/w/images/thumb/2/28/Procharger_C-2_Centrifugal_Supercharger.jpg/180px-Procharger_C-2_Centrifugal_Supercharger.jpg
ME 3:15PM (9/29/2008)
"An electrically-driven boosting system would give engineers greater flexibility in packaging. Installing a turbocharger requires plumbing from the exhaust side of the engine to the intake."
Yea, but a turbo uses otherwise wasted heat energy to make boost.
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EV-1 3:37PM (9/29/2008)
The conservative mindset of car enthusiasts is simply mindboggling.
At this rate, in a decade you'd have to be a space-scientist to recognize there's a simple gas-expansion , heat-wasting , antique principle beneath tons of add-ons. Silencers and coolers, starting motors ( ! ) ... ( WTF!?!? It can't even START by itself !? Needs an ELECTRIC motor for that ! ) and here the stupid principle of trying to shove and force GAS in and out, here and there ( yes GAS folks !?! - sort of a loosing battle to put it mildly ) with the help of - - guess what? - - an ELECTRIC motor...
Why don't they rely on an ELECTRIC motor to run the crap ICE altogether ? That would save fuel...
OMG!
They're obviously hellbent on wasting energy in ancient ICEs!
Producing Heat, Noice, and Pollutants in the process.
AVE at technology of yesteryear ! *irony*
What if they'd spend just a fraction of all the time, effort, money and ingenuity
on Electric Propulsion in different forms . . . . . . . .
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oldraven 8:14AM (9/30/2008)
So what, we should all drive ONLY EVs? That's a great way to replace one transportation/energy monopoly with another. I don't like you already.
This still isn't newsworthy, though.
tankd0g 9:05PM (9/29/2008)
I'm confident in saying this without even reading the article.
BULLSHIT.
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oldraven 8:21AM (9/30/2008)
Has anyone else noticed this electric supercharger has a gigantic pulley on the back side of it? That would make it a plain old Centrifugal Supercharger. No press photos from Controlled Power Technologies?
Here people. I just googled Electric Supercharger. http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=electric+supercharger&btnG=Google+Search&meta= Be amazed at how late to the game CPT and ABG are.
And here's a picture of one, for anyone interested. http://www.picpile.net/ims/pic_35ZLqZS/1690.jpg
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