Anyone with a small 4cyl new car want to try before you buy electric supercharger?

[Sugarphreak]

....

[gamman]

quote
However there is a technical problem t... 99% of the time when it is not operating, isn't the turbo restricting air flow?

...on an N/A engine, even the smallest obstruction in the intake can cause power loss, never mind an inactive turbo sitting in the middle of it. ... hurting your fuel economy and regular power ... unless you have a free flow bypass of some kind.
endquote

The compressor used is a larger than the corresponding turbo size. As such, it has the ability to outflow the throttle body to around 150cfm without a pressure drop, like a turbo.

When the engine is flowing more than 150cfm, the unit starts up, and then provides positive pressure, removing all restrictions. The unit is triggered by a NOS switch on the pedal. To be clear however, the unit turns on around 2200rpms and provides positive pressure all the way to redline, not just at the 150cfm example above. That is more of an illustration of when the unit becomes a restriction while not operational and freewheeling.

On the golf 2.0 (2.slow), a 115 crank hp vehicle, it is a minor restriction.

to deal with your second point, about a restriction hurting fuel economy and power. Less gas used, less power, better miles per gallon. As the unit nears redline, assuming unit is off, the computer monitors fuel delivered, the reduction in power is due to less fuel, due to less air being allowed into the engine. The computer will keep it at stoich, IE: keep the air and fuel in the same ratio. Less air than normal, less fuel too. Yes, less power, but that can be solved with the supercharger on, or a 10 minute intake tube swap.

If you check the FAQ's on our almost done website, you will see a better description.

www.prestigemotorworks.ca

Thanks for the comments, keep them coming.

[se7en]

couple interesting ideas I'd like to input...

-why not a way(proportionally) bigger electric motor on the back.

-larger turbo housing and wheels(less restriction and more power per psi)

-run at WOT with capacitors for max flow, But, here's the kicker, run a few volts through the electric motor to spin the wheel around enough to not create a restriction.

I also like the flapper valve setup not unlike the old mx-3 v6 used to run. Plenty of engines run variable intake runner lengths, why not plumb this "turbo" setup into the secondary runner...etc etc.

Someone should look at the insane technology that electric R/C cars have been running in their engines, and scale it up a bit.

I realize that pricing might start to surpass an actual turbo kit, but I'm sure longevity might be there. As well as simplicy to install as well.

[Graham_A_M]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak
It shouldn't cause turbo lag, electric motors have 100% of their torque instantly...

most do, not all. Those that do are designed to do such, but typically connotate a big current spike at start up.

[Toma]

Finally saw this thing first hand tonight. Gotta admit, after seeing how compact everything was, I was skeptical.

But after the first run, this damn thing actually works. After a bunch of runs, it kept on working.

Put the dyno in "auto pilot mode" set it where it starts to record at 2500 and stop at 6000, and made numerous back to back runs. Even loaded it extra hard. Bone stock without the "blower" it made 96hp and repeated very well. After the install, it made 119.3, and the batteries lasted forever, after 4 15 second pulls, boost stayed consistent.

So on the Golf, it made 4.6 psi at 2500 and 2.5 psi at 6000 rpm.

roughly 30% gain in torque, and 25% gain in power. Seems a good bolt on solution for a street car.

[Sentry]

Pretty freaking cool eh

I peeked under the hood at a meet and was impressed.

[sr20s14zenki]

Neat. I gotta see this.

[Sentry]

What did it sound like? Little bit of boost noise plus electric motor whirring at high rpm?

[Toma]

Originally posted by Sentry
What did it sound like? Little bit of boost noise plus electric motor whirring at high rpm?

Honestly, can't say you can even hear it. At least not in the shop.

Why I was skeptical is the motor is way physically smaller than I imagined. It's like a DC brushless latest desing kinda deal. I dunno anything about them, but dayum. I think if the 50,000 rpm, 150 amps is accurate, at 24 volts, I think that's like 5hp!

[Maxx Mazda]

Is this the first time in history an electric supercharger has turned out to be legit?

[zieg]

Did you do any tuning along with it? What did the afr curve look like?

[A790]

WAT.

WAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN...

[Tik-Tok]

Pretty neat, but why lead acid batteries? Seems so old tech.

[Toma]

Originally posted by ZiG-87
Did you do any tuning along with it? What did the afr curve look like?

No, they been driving it on the stock tune. At this low boost, it seems fine. It is a mass air flow car from factory so it does self compensate to some degree. It was quite rich up top, I imagine there would be some small gains with a tune.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Toma


No, they been driving it on the stock tune. At this low boost, it seems fine. It is a mass air flow car from factory so it does self compensate to some degree.

That's what I was thinking, it's pretty much just compensating for our altitude (plus a little)

[Toma]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
Pretty neat, but why lead acid batteries? Seems so old tech.

They tried Lithium, can't remember what he said, but from what I have noticed on race cars where we use them is lithium is light, but does not have the reserve capacity or even "amp hours" of a lead acid.

[zieg]

Originally posted by Toma


No, they been driving it on the stock tune. At this low boost, it seems fine. It is a mass air flow car from factory so it does self compensate to some degree. It was quite rich up top, I imagine there would be some small gains with a tune.

Fair enough. My concern would have been that it might lean out up top, but I guess with such a low boost setup there should be enough headroom on the stock map and fuel system with most cars.. it'd be interested to see what happens on a slightly older car though.

[ExtremeSi]

Wow. This looks pretty impressive.

[v2kai]

Originally posted by Maxx Mazda
Is this the first time in history an electric supercharger has turned out to be legit?

purpose built for drag but I believe it did work - Thomas Knight Electric Supercharger

[a social dsease]

Very cool, been following this since the first post and I'm really impressed that they've stuck with it and have been able to achieve good results. Looking forward to seeing more!