After Turbochargers, Lets Have A Look At How A Supercharger Works

We’ve already taken a look at the internal workings of a turbocharger. Now let’s take a look at what a Supercharger is and how it works.

A supercharger has the same basic principle as a turbocharger, its function is to increase air flow to the cylinders which increases the rate at which fuel is burnt and makes the whole process much more efficient. As a result you get more power from the engine, but while a turbocharger is run off the exhaust gases of the car, a supercharger on the other hand in run by the engine via the crankshaft. Now in essence we’re going to be taking a brief look at the basic internal workings of the most common and most efficient type of supercharger, a centrifugal supercharger.

A centrifugal supercharger is driven by an accessory belt linked to the crankshaft. It wraps around the pulley of the supercharger which is connected to a drive gear, this drive gear is directly connected to a shaft which is linked to a compressor housing on the other end. When the engine is running the accessory belt spins and at the same time spins the pulley as well. As the pulley is linked via the drive gear and shaft to the compressor wheel in the compressor housing, it starts to spin as well. When the compressor wheel is spinning it is sucking in air and compressing it, essentially what that means is it is converting high speed low pressure air into low speed high pressure air . Due to centripetal force the air is forced out of the compressing housing through the outlet port and thus into the cylinders of the engine where when a higher quantity of oxygen enters the cylinder fuel is burnt faster and more efficiently and the power output of the engine increases.

Hopefully this clears up any questions you had about what a supercharger is and how it works. If you would like to add anything to this please feel free to leave it in the comment section below.

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