WEBVTT - What is the difference between a turbo-charger and a super-charger?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart happens him Marshall Brain with today's question, what

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<v Speaker 1>is the difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger on

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<v Speaker 1>a car's engine. Let's start with the similarities. Both turbo

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<v Speaker 1>chargers and superchargers are called forced induction systems. They compress

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<v Speaker 1>the air flowing into the engine. The advantage of compressing

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<v Speaker 1>the air is that it lets the engine stuff more

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<v Speaker 1>air into a cylinder, and more air means that more

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<v Speaker 1>fuel can be stuffed into so you get more power

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<v Speaker 1>from each cylinder. A turbo or a supercharged engine produces

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<v Speaker 1>more power overall than the same engine without the charging.

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<v Speaker 1>The typical boost provided by either a turbocharger or a

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<v Speaker 1>supercharger is six to eight pounds per square inch. Since

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<v Speaker 1>normal atmospheric pressure is fourteen point seven p s i

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<v Speaker 1>at sea level, you can see that you're getting about

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<v Speaker 1>fifty more air into the engine. Therefore, you would expect

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<v Speaker 1>to get more power. It's not perfectly efficient, so you

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<v Speaker 1>might get a thirty or forty improvement instead. The key

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<v Speaker 1>difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger is its power supply.

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<v Speaker 1>Something has to supply the power to run the air compressor.

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<v Speaker 1>In a supercharger, there's a belt that connects directly to

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<v Speaker 1>the engine. It gets its power the same way that

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<v Speaker 1>a water pump or an alternator does. A turbocharger, on

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, gets its power from the exhaust stream.

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<v Speaker 1>The exhaust runs through a turbine, which in turn spins

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<v Speaker 1>the compressor. There are tradeoffs in both systems. In theory,

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<v Speaker 1>a turbocharger is more efficient because it's using the wasted

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<v Speaker 1>energy in the exhaustream for its power source. On the

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<v Speaker 1>other hand, a turbocharger causes some amount of back pressure

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<v Speaker 1>in the exhaust system and tends to provide less boost

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<v Speaker 1>until the engine is running at higher RPMs. Superchargers are

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<v Speaker 1>easier to install, but they tend to be more expensive.

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