Does anyone have any literature or information related to the Dragstar Supercharger? Has anyone on here ever ran one or been involved with someone who has? I have read they weren't very efficient. With todays battery choices, and advanced starter possibilities, would these changes potentially ramp up the boost? Any help greatly appreciated. WadeO
No they didn't even really do anything when Oberhausen added a conventional drive in addition to the electric motor, just a poor design all around. The blower would probably work well in a novelty display case, however.
The laws of physics are just that, laws, not suggestions. Even at 100% efficiency, it still takes 35 to 45 hp (ballpark from memory, I did not take the time to do the actual calculation) to move and compress enough air to run 14 psi (1 atm) of boost on a 350 to 400 ci engine running at 5000 rpm. Assuming a 12V starter motor, that equates to something like 2500 amps, continuous, to generate 40 hp (30 kW). Pretty difficult to keep things from melting at that amperage level. The Oberhausen units probably couldn't generate more than a couple of Hp continuously, and there for no effective boost. That said, Porsche and F1 are using electric motor/generators mounted in the center bearing housing of turbochargers to both recover energy to use to charge battery systems, and they also use the electric motor to spin up the turbine quicker to effectively eliminate turbo lag. These are just the latest iterations of turbo-compound systems that have been around since the late 1940's in both airplanes (Napier Nomad, Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone) and heavy trucks (Mack MP8 and Detroit DD-15). All of the modern systems still use exhaust gas waste heat / energy as the primary power source and only rely on electricity as an auxiliary system due to the sheer power requirements to move large quantities of air.
The Jalopy Journal
