Overview: Supercharger vs. Turbocharger

SUMMARY: The intention with this article is to shed some light on the theories behind turbocharging the modern engine, and the wonderful advantages it gives us in both speed and basic engine design issues. This post is also to try and give people a better understanding of supercharger systems and how they work to make such a simple thing as an engine even simpler.

View full article (http://www.automotivearticles.com/Supercharger_vs_Turbocharger_.shtml)

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I didn't learn much from what I knew before, but nonetheless, I still learned something!

now I didn't post this to make a statement about which system will work better for your intended use, because the answer is (as usal) "it depends" Depends on what??????

I think instead of going on the write about how old the argument between the two camps are; he could have easily stated what the dession depends on. I am no closer to figuring out if I want to SC or Turbo my motor from reading this.

Another drawback of a "turbocharger" is lag time. Due to the fact that the turbo runs on kinetic energy that is beeing thrown away as exaust, It takes time for the turbo to get up to high enough RPMs to produce enough pressure to cause an increase in power.

Nice comparison and nice additions. Just one thing I would add: "supercharger" works almost equally efficient on the whole engine speed interval, while turbocharger kicks in at relatively high engine speeds, just because it needs some kinetic energy to turn the turbine. So, if you need power on the low end, you need "supercharger". This is one of the "depends" :)

"These must work within a maximum pressure variation of 0psi (which is really hard to create without massive pumping losses) and 14.7psi (maximum atmospheric pressure @ sea level)."

What's missing: all, repeat all, high-performance and race engines produce higher pressure due to reversion waves (up to 7 psi or so just from exhaust tuning).

"that's always sealed off from the rest of the system so we can forget about that complexity)"

???
Except when the exhaust valve opens BBDC before the power stroke is done - which happens in every single engine for the last 50 years. No high positive pressure in the exhaust? Turbo does not work.

"air should NEVER pass backwards through the system unless the supercharger stops working"

True for mechanical superchargers.

All street and mild turbos, which have exhaust backpressure twice the intake boost - and exhaust backs up into the chamber on overlap all the time. Only the most highly developed turbo engines have positive flow-through on overlap.

"the turbo contributes to supercharging the exhaust system"

Sorry, what does this mean?

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