INTRODUCTION

The turbocharger was invented by Swiss engineer Alfred Buchi ,who had been working on
steam turbines .His patent for the internal combustion turbocharger was applied in1905.Diesel
ships and locomotives with turbochargers began appearing in the 1920s.One of the first
application of a turbocharger to a non-diesel engine was when General Electric engineer
Sanford Moss attached a turbo to a V12 Liberty aircraft engine .The term “V” indicates that the
engine block is a “V” shape .The “12” indicates that the engine block has “12” cylinders .The
engine was tested at Pikes Peak in Colorado at an altitude of 4267m above sea level to
demonstrate that it could eliminate the power losses usually experienced in internal
combustion chambers engines as a result of altitude .Turbocharges were fist used In aircraft
engines in the 1930s ,prior to WWII .The purpose behind most aircraft–based applications was
to increase the altitude at which the aeroplane could fly, by compensating for the lower
atmospheric pressure present at high altitude .turbodiesel trucks were produced after 1949
.The turbocharger hit the automotive industry in 1952. The first production of a turbocharged
car engine came from general motors. The A-body Oldsmobile Cutlass and Chevrolet Corvair
Monza Spyder were both fitted with turbochargers in 1962

ABSTRACT
The surest ways to get more power out of an engine was to increase the amount of air and fuel
it can burn .One way of doing this was to add more cylinders or make the current cylinders
bigger .Sometimes these changes would not be appropriate, a turbo could be simpler, more
compact way to add power, especially for an aftermarket accessory .A turbo is exhaust gas
driven .It is less efficient at low rpm (revelution per minute ). This was because of the time take
by the exhaust system driving the turbine to come to high pressure and for the turbine rotor to
overcome its rotational inertia and reach the speed necessary to supply boost pressure .The
main function of a turbocharger is draw air into the cylinder
 1. HOW A TURBOCHARGER WORKS

A turbocharger is a dynamic compressor, in which gas was compressed by the

mechanical action of the impellers which were spun using kinetic movement of
air, imparting velocity and pressure to the flowing medium .The mechanical
concept of a turbocharger revolved around three main parts .A turbine driven by
the exhaust gas from a pump, an internal combustion engine, to spin the impeller
whose function was to force more air into the pumps intake supply .The third part
was the center hub rotating assembly which contained bearings, lubrication,
cooling and a shaft that connected the turbine and impeller .The shaft, bearings
impeller and turbine rotated speeds of hundreds of RPM .In order to achieve
boost, the turbocharger used the exhaust flow from the engine to spin a turbine,
which spinned an air pump .The turbine in the turbocharger spinned at speeds of
up to 150 00rpm .Air entered the compressor at a temperature equivalent to
atmospheric pressure ,as compression caused the temperature to rise it left the
compressor cover at temperatures of up to 200 degrees celciused .

Figure 1.1: Operation of a turbocharger

 2. COMPONENTS OF A TURBOCHARGER

2.1 TUBINE HOUSING

Turbine housing was manufactured in different grades of graphite iron to deal with thermal
energy and wheel burst containment .The turbine housing flange acts as the reference point for

fixing a turbocharger position

Figure 1: turbo housing

2.2 IMPELLER
Impellers were produced using aluminum .A rubber former was made to replicate the impeller
around which a casting mold was created .Accurate blade sections and profiles are important in
achieving compressor performance .The impeller was located on the shaft assembly using the
thread nut .

Figure 2: impeller
2.3 BEARING HOUSING
A grey cast iron bearing housing provided location for a floating bearing system for the shaft,
turbine and compressor which rotated at 170 000rpm .Shell molding was used to provide
positional accuracy critical features of the housing such as shaft bearing and seal location.

Figure 3: Bearing housing

2.4 WASTE GATE

An internal waste gate was a built-in bypass valve and passage within a turbocharger housing
which allowed excess exhaust pressure to bypass the turbine into the downstream exhaust
.Control of the internal waste gate valve by pressure signal from the intake manifold was
identical to the exhaust waste gate .All waste exhaust gases were automatically routed back
into the catalytic converter and exhaust system.

Figure 4 :waste gate

 3. RELIABILITY

As long as the oil supply is clean and the exhaust gas does not become overheated because of
advanced spark timing on a petrol engine, a turbo can be very reliable .However, care for the
unit is important .Replacing a turbo is very expensive .The use of synthetic oils is recommended
in turbo engines .The synthetic oils were designed and engineered to withstand the relative
harsh conditions that turbochargers operate under After high speed operation of the engine, it
is important to let the engine run at idle speed for three minutes before turning off the engine
.This lets the turbo rotating assembly cool from the exhaust gas temperature .Failing to do this
will result in critical oil supply to the turbocharger being severed when the engine stops while
the turbine housing and exhaust manifold are still very hot .This may lead to carbonization of
the lubricating oil trapped in the unit of oil when the engine is started, causing rapid bearing
wear and failure even small particles of burnt oil will accumulate and lead to choking the oil
supply .A turbo timer is a safety device to keep the engine running for a pre-specified period, to
allow it to cool down .Oil carbonization is completely eliminated by foil bearings because they
require no additional lubrication, therefore carbonization is not possible .

4. FORCED LUBRICATION

The internal combustion engine was a very good example of forced lubrication system .The
engine had hundreds of moving parts, which operated under loads of very high heat .Figure 5
shows a very specified schematic drawing of how oil is pumped under pressure through the
machine in order to lubricate all the bearing surfaces and moving parts .

FIGURE: 5
 5. VOLUMENTRC EFFIENCY

By spinning at high speed, the compressor turbine sucked a large volume of air and forced it
into the engine .As the turbochargers output-flow volume exceeded the engines volumetric flow,
air pressure in the intake system began to build .The speed at which the assembly spinned was
proportional to the pressure of the compressed air and the total mass of air flow being moved .Since
the turbo spinned faster than what was needed, the speed was controlled, and thus was the property
used to set the desired compression pressure .A waste gate was used aided by an electronic boost
controller .This ability to fill the cylinder with air was its volumetric efficiency .Since the turbocharger
increased the pressure at the point where air is entering cylinder was largely a function of time and
pressure, more air will be sucked in as the pressure increases .the application of a compressor to
increase pressure at the point of cylinder air intake is often referred to as forced induction
.Turbochargers are more efficient, since their turbines are actually heat engines, converting some of the
heat energy from the exhaust gas that would be wasted , into useful work.

ENGINE VOLUMETRIC FLOW EQUATIONS

Volume of air (cu/min)=engine rpm× engine cid÷1728×2

. FUEL EFFICIENCY

Since a turbocharger increased the horse power output of an engine, the engine also produced
increased amount of waste heat .This can be a problem when fitting a turbocharger to a car
that was designed to cope with high-heat loads .This extra waste heat combined with the lower
compression ratio of turbocharged engines contributed to slightly lower thermal efficiency
.Turbocharges allow an engine to burn more fuel and air by packing more into the cylinders
.The typical boost provided by a turbocharger is 41,3 to 55,2kPa (kilo Pascal).Since normal
atmospheric pressure was 96,52kPa at sea level, 50% more air entered the engine .So you could
expect 30%improvement.One cause of in efficiency was having to spin the turbine .