Who is the inventor of turbocharger?

It is generally believed that it is the Swiss engineer Beech who applied for this patent in 1905. At that time, it was mainly used for aircraft engines and tank engines. It was not until 1961 that General Motors of the United States installed turbochargers on some of its models. The 1970s became a turning point for turbochargers, and the Porsche 911 with a supercharged engine came out. However, it is SAAB Saab in Sweden that makes turbocharging technology rejuvenate. The Saab 99 model launched in 1977 spread the turbocharging technology more widely, but at that time, the turbocharger was only installed on the gasoline engine of the car. It was not until the mid-1980s that European and American truck manufacturers applied turbocharger technology to their diesel engines.

Role of turbocharger:

The main function of turbocharging is to increase the air intake of the engine, thus increasing the power and torque of the engine and making the car more dynamic. After the engine is equipped with turbocharger, the maximum power can be increased by 40% or even higher than that without turbocharger. This means that the same engine can output more power after turbocharging. Take our most common 1.8T turbocharged engine as an example. After turbocharging, the power can reach the level of 2.4L engine, but the fuel consumption is not much higher than 1.8L engine. The other is to improve fuel economy and reduce exhaust emissions.

Working principle of turbocharger:

The first turbochargers were used in sports cars or formula cars, so the engine can get more power in those racing races with limited engine displacement. As we all know, the engine is powered by the combustion of fuel in the cylinder. Since the fuel input is limited by the amount of air sucked into the cylinder, the output power of the engine will also be limited. If the operating performance of the engine is in the best state, increasing the output power can only increase the fuel volume by compressing more air into the cylinder, thus improving the combustion power. Therefore, under the existing technical conditions, the turbocharger is the only mechanical device that can increase the engine output power under the same working efficiency.