Tuesday, June 30, 2009

supercharging explained.

A supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine. The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally-aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be provided and more work to be done per cycle, increasing the power output of the engine.

It can be powered mechanically by a belt, gear, shaft, or chain connected to the engine's crankshaft.

Sounds Simple?...Like everything else in life, that which seems simple at first can sometimes tend to be quite a pain in the A**.

Supercharging an engine not initially designed for one can be a challenge, Depending on the engine design and what end result we want to achieve, supercharging a single cylinder 1950's British design might be suicidal..for the said engine that is!

From the start the difficulties of supercharging a single cylinder engine motorcycle are :-

Space..where do you stick this thing on the bike?

The blower rotation is clockwise, the crankshaft rotates anti clockwise!!

The belt drive from the crankshaft to the blower.

Effect on engine life..basically mechanical and heat stresses will increase.

These are just a few and some of the more basic hurdles to overcome.

If successfully incorporated will it actually boost power output? or be more of a parasitic load on the engine thereby reducing power output.Remember it is driven by the engine.

It has been done before, quite successfully...so only time will tell.

1 comment:

  1. Hi
    What you are doing is great! I am running a Royal Enfield dragbike myself, except mine is based on a 1946 or thereabouts model J2. Here is info on reversing the drive of the Eaton M45: http://www.thefang.co.uk/ Very interested in seeing what you do to it as I recently bought an Eaton myself. Maybe we can exchange ideas concerning cams, compression, driverate and so forth on a later date when I get around to mounting it.
    Definitely keep the updates coming!
    Regards
    Ivan from Denmark

    ReplyDelete