Super charger like ideas?

[SuperManCC]

Alright, I've been trying to read up on some things about turbos and superchargers and I've read quite a few different things now and just have a few probably simple questions that everyone will think I'm crazy for but oh well.

Alright, if both just create a more rapid cool air intake, couldn't you run some kind of compressed air line into the intake line? Like have a compressor in the back and all? Or isn't that really a good idea?

And what about this water misting stuff? I know some planes do it and I've heard of people doing it. Sounds logical enough to me? but maybe a lil risky?

Is there any other way to get the same kind of effect as a Super Charger?

And is there any way to make your own? Like decently?

Thanks.

[Evil Result]

Well when your dealing with forced induction any time you compress air you increase its temperature, thats why you see many turbo charged vehicals using an Intercooler to lower the intake temperature closer to the ambient air temperature.

using any air compressor wouldn't work because it likely that your engine requires more air than to compresser could provide.

Water injection does have a purpose in these applications where lots of boost is involved, helps control knock, and pre-ignition, the water also increases dynamic compression ratio.

Nitrous Oxide is in some sence super charging... your still forcing more air into the combustion chamber.

if you wanted to make your own it would probley cost more in time and money than just buying from a manufacturer.

[SuperManCC]

Alright well couldn't you just add the air line to the existing intake? Still allow for normal intake but add a line that opens and blasts air in say when the throttle is wide open? Just a thought? and couldn't you cool the air as it came through or out?

[Evil Result]

Well you wouldn't be able to bulid a positive atmospheric pressure because it would force the air out of the intake. But if the compressed air being used is cool in the tank; when released into the intake the air will decompress and get colder in theory this could drop the temperature of the air giving you a denser charge of air allowing you to use more fuel for more power, although i'm not shure how much of an effect this might have if any.

[MustangRoadRacer]

9 times out of 10, it you have an idea and can't find any info about it on the aftermarket, it's probably not a good idea.
like the kid who wanted to replace his mufflers with rockets.

[-Josh-]

And if you make this compressor.. What will drive it, belt, electric? Are you going to have a toggle switch, or will it run off of some other feature in the car? How much air will it compress? Are you going to properly wire into the throttle to inject more air as the throttle opens? There are a lot of questions to consider, you just can't strap something to an engine and expect it it work.

[replicant_008]

Here's some relatively simple math - say your car is a largish V8 maybe 5 litres or so. At full throttle, it will consume about 450 cubic feet of air per minute.

To give you an idea of exactly how much air that is - dive tanks are filled to about 3200 lbs per square inch and hold roughly 80 cu feet of air. At full throttle at maximum revs you'd deplete 9 tanks in about a minute.

Now your average compressor at the gas station pumps takes about 30 seconds to pump a tire to 30 psi and hold maybe 5 cubic feet of air. So you need a massive compressor - bearing in mind at full throttle a reasonable sized supercharger can consume 20 hp in energy compressing enough air to keep the boost levels up.

The beauty of the turbo charger is that you get something for nothing - the expanding hot exhaust gases provide a source of energy to drive the compressor blades that otherwise would be wasted going out the tailpipe.

About the only other interesting option is to use flywheel batteries to store unrequired energy and then return it for use when required. Which sounds good and has been used for satellites for some time - only thing is all those spinning flywheels tend to act as gyros and don't like rapid changes in direction and tend to do nasty things like explode eg Patriot Le Mans Race car project.