Who is going to be the first one to try Electric Turbos?

[treysgreen]

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...ocharger-.html

[DieselElectric]

48 volt system.

So 4 batteries, plus large gauge wiring to handle the current, and gotta figure out how to charge them.

Sounds like a lot of hassle. I honestly don't think it would offer much benefit to a dedicated fun car.

[DxC]

Hey diesel electric - did you say you work on trains that have diesel motors that work as generators to charge up batteries? Those train engines are electric??

There's a cofounder of paypal that is retrofitting gas turbine engines into f250s replacing the power stroke. WrightSpeed or something

[DieselElectric]

No batteries. The diesel generator powers each axle on the Locomotive directly. Each axle is a monster DC motor with a single ring and pinion gear to drive the wheel. There's no reserve power source, the generator produces energy as needed for requested load. Fun fact, we're talking a little over 4,000 amps max. My job has turned me into a train nerd, I know. They are just fucking awesome from a mechanical standpoint.

But yes, I almost said in my post that you would need to find an alternator capable of keeping up with the demands, but said fuck it lol.

[Ur20v]

48v alternators are fairly common in tractors, but they cost about $2k new and weigh about 40 pounds. They are 190-200 amp, which is about 25% more than you need for one of these turbos...

[DxC]

No buffer battery in the system huh? Is that Bc of the huge amperage? I would think a buffer is good. Another hobby of mine is solar and wind setups and it's all about a good battery bank there

[erykv1]

No batteries. The diesel generator powers each axle on the Locomotive directly. Each axle is a monster DC motor with a single ring and pinion gear to drive the wheel. There's no reserve power source, the generator produces energy as needed for requested load. Fun fact, we're talking a little over 4,000 amps max. My job has turned me into a train nerd, I know. They are just fucking awesome from a mechanical standpoint.

But yes, I almost said in my post that you would need to find an alternator capable of keeping up with the demands, but said fuck it lol.

I actually worked in engineering with one of the big 3 locomotive companies. Had a few run ins with EMD / GE and their genset motors and dealt with regenerative braking stuff.

Either way, I don't see it being widely implemented anytime soon... but who knows, battery tech has come a long way.

[DieselElectric]

Very true, lithium polymer batteries and brushless motors killed gasoline in the RC world.

We use the regen braking as well, unfortunately none of it is put to use. Just turned to heat and blown out the roof.

[Audi9]

On a b5 s4? Lol no. Just no

[MetalMan]

Aside from the car-specific application, this would actually be pretty cool if implemented properly.
You can run a huge laggy exhaust-gas turbocharger to obtain huge torque/power without the drawback of "waiting" for it.

The motor would only need to run for a few seconds at a time and likely wouldn't require a huge amount of energy. It may require a lot of instantaneous power of course.

I imagine something like a large bank of ultracapacitors being used to store energy from regenerative braking and/or additional alternator. These could store/supply energy at very fast rates and for many more cycles compared to modern LiPo or LiFePO4 batteries, not to mention the weight savings compared to batteries.

One neat benefit of an electric turbocharger in parallel with exhaust-gas turbo is that the electric unit would help spool the exhaust turbo more quickly since more exhaust gas would be available sooner.

Biggest downside to this whole concept is additional weight... but I think that would be negated by increased power/torque output and efficiency gains down low, especially if the electric turbocharger's main power source is from regenerative braking.

[getslideways]

I cant help but think of the maxima with the electric supercharger from a decade ago:

http://www.superstreetonline.com/how...-supercharger/

[DieselElectric]

I'd rather just build an electric race car like that e36 than take on a project like this.

[LightningLou]

Very true, lithium polymer batteries and brushless motors killed gasoline in the RC world.

We use the regen braking as well, unfortunately none of it is put to use. Just turned to heat and blown out the roof.

I used to be really into RC and built a Yokomo Mr4tc electric touring car that was ridiculously fast... 7-turn double wind motor. It would just spin all 4 tires most the time and I would end up crashing it and going through bodies like crazy. Ended up selling it, but gawddamn that thing must've gone 100mph or more. Pretty impossible to top it out anywhere though lol. No nitro car could touch it.

[bobkatkat]

There is a local company that have been selling kits for a few years now. See a lot of them on VW and BRZ around town at the car events. Not sure how efficient the kit is as the motor looks kind of small. Not a huge power gain but might be interesting as a low rpm boost to some bigger turbos. Looks like the compressor can be put anywhere in the intake Pre Maf. Would be easy to install.

Links http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/vw-20.html

[ElementR]

Volvo has one feeding two conventional turbos on this 4 cylinder engine they've developed...

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/10/07/v...linder-engine/

As far as 48V systems, expect to see them in the relatively near future.

[LightningLou]

There is a local company that have been selling kits for a few years now. See a lot of them on VW and BRZ around town at the car events. Not sure how efficient the kit is as the motor looks kind of small. Not a huge power gain but might be interesting as a low rpm boost to some bigger turbos. Looks like the compressor can be put anywhere in the intake Pre Maf. Would be easy to install.

Links http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/vw-20.html

+32ft lbs and +25hp... I'll pass.

[jibberjive]

There is a local company that have been selling kits for a few years now. See a lot of them on VW and BRZ around town at the car events. Not sure how efficient the kit is as the motor looks kind of small. Not a huge power gain but might be interesting as a low rpm boost to some bigger turbos. Looks like the compressor can be put anywhere in the intake Pre Maf. Would be easy to install.

Links http://www.phantomsuperchargers.com/vw-20.html

I imagine you would have to have crazy flow conditioning before the maf (after the electric supercharger) to get anywhere near a clean maf signal reading, if you put one of those pre-maf.