Turbocharger

[JFettig]

Hey guys, In school I and a few other guys are building a super mileage car(high fuel economy) and in order to get better burn I would like to build a turbocharger. The only problems I see with my ideas is the impellers, how to make one or get one. The impellers I have seen have some sort of helix in them,

The motor is going to be run for about 1-2 minutes at a time with intervals up to 5 or so minutes, will be going around a 6 mile track twice. Im not too worried about heat, and I will want the turbo to be really light so it spins up fast.

Does anyone have any information that could help me? size and everything I would like to know, for the impellers I am thinking around 1-1.5" in diameter.

Thankyou
Jon

[teilhardo]

From what I hear, you will need a 5 axis machine. The calculations recquired to design an efficient impeller are quite complicated. You need to find the speed that it rotates, the volume of air moved per blade, along with the fact that the air's characteristics change as it gets more pressurized. You would probably be better off just scrapping some old turbocharger, remove the impellers and see which one works best.
Good luck,
Tei

[JFettig]

thats kinda what I was thinking at first, but I was also thinking that I could get it to work right without having it perfect.

[teilhardo]

You probably could. I tried designing an impeller for my microturbine using rhino but it got very complicated VERY soon. All the different twist an turns makes for a very confusing wireframe. What about a supercharger squirrel cage, have you thought of using that?

[trubleshtr]

Take a look at the "Power Tower" Helic turbocharger for ford vehicals, it's very simple in design. What about building the fins in pieces, and weld, or assemble them instead of trying to make a complete impeller in one piece?

[JFettig]

well this turbo is going to spin around 100,000rpm at the maximum, I dont know about that

Jon

[trubleshtr]

Hmm...... ya, that could be messy

[teilhardo]

I think your main problem would be to balance it. But there is a good schematic for a dynamic balancer from this guy:
http://www.technologie-entwicklung.d...cing_tool.html

[ccm]

Fettig, I'm in the process myself of doing some research on this topic as well, .....but not for a class. I 've found some sites in my travels that you may want to check out.
The other thing is lookup Fuel Cracking or Gasoline Cracking....that should get you some good info.
Here's those links:
http://www.teslatech.info/ttstore/ar.../geet/geet.htm
http://www.himacresearch.com/docs/energy.html

The first link is a Geet Reactor, the second link describes what happens to people when they come up with a great idea and the oil companies step in.....But, it also provides some good inside / background info that I think will help you out.
As for a turbo, yeah I'm looking for one as well, and you'll be better off getting a used unit at a local boneyard.
The impeller blades are made out of steel in most cases, out of the fact I don't think AL would stand up to the 800 - 1200 ' temps regularly considering it's melting point is 1400' or so.

If I find anymore info, I'll pass it your way......
Lots of luck..

-arthur
p.s. if you do decide to build one out of al, use ball bearings to support the center, good ball bearings....suprisingly alot of turbo builders / manufacturers used a lubricated center bushing up until recently......

[teilhardo]

That "reactor" is interesting. However, I don't think that it is a real "fuel reformer". Real fuel reforming is done by reacting a vaporized hydrocarbon with water vapor over some kind of platinum or palladium catalyst. This guys vessel just puts the exhause over the liquid fuel and vaporizes it, sending the vapor back to the engine. it is sort of like a heat exchanger and I'm pretty sure that it allows the engine to run better because it takes one less step out of the complex steps that an IC engine uses to burn fuel (instead of using the carbeurator to atomize the fuel, which cools down the air, the vaporized fuel can be injected directly instead)
(at least this is how I see the design)
-Tei

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by ccm The first link is a Geet Reactor, the second link describes what happens to people when they come up with a great idea and the oil companies step in.....

I've done some research on these things and it turns out that nearly all of these "amazing alternative energy" stories turn out to be bunk.

Most of the time these stories are cooked up by people with charismatic personalities but a poor understanding of physics. What they often try to sell is perpetual motion, and that isn't possible. Also, it takes more energy to separate hydrogen and oxygen from water than you'd get if you burned them.

Look into this stuff more and you'll find that these are mostly yahoo's with wild imaginations or just poor reasoning abilities.

[Marshallj]

The guy on that site is a loon.