Low-cost Blower Development
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C',AIMED to be less costly to manufacture than a conventional turboblower. a positive-displacement exhaust-driven turbine, combined as a unit with a Rootstype supercharger, is being developed by Wade Engineering, ltd., Crowhurst Road. Brighton, 6, for pressure-charging oil engines developing up to 150 b.h.p. in their naturally aspirated form.
The turbine and supercharger arc mounted on a common rotor, the peak rotational speed of which is only 8,000 r.p.m. It is claimed that this speed is far more appropriate to automotive applications than the much higher speeds of centrifugal turbochargers.
Other advantages mentioned by the makers include an almost instantaneous response to load increases and a more uniform performance throughout the loadspeed range. The load response provided by the unit is said to he comparable to that of a naturally aspirated engine or to one fitted with a mechanically driven supercharger.
Because the turbine and the engine both operate on the positive-displacement principle, the pressure charger can be
more accurately matched to the characteristics of the engine and what is described as the "adverse scale effect" on component efficiencies is eliminated. The unit could he matched to the engine to give either maximum power or maximum economy.
It is predicted that it will he possible to produce a combined turbo-supercharger unit capable of providing an increase in power output of at least 30 per cent.