why are superchargers not good at producing boost at high rpms like turbos?
In: Engineering
Simply put, a turbo can spin faster at higher RPMs than a supercharger can. A supercharger is connected to the engine, but the turbo is spun by exhaust gasses so as more air is passed through the motor at higher RPM the turbo spins faster and faster. Depending on the geometry of the turbo’s blades, this can result in a turbo going wicked fast. A supercharger is more ‘linear’, giving you a proportionate amount of boost with the spinning of the engine. You can change the pully length of a supercharger to overdrive it even more, but it remains tied to the motor’s RPM.
It is misleading to say a supercharger is not good at producing boost at high RPM and more correct to say that turbos are *more efficient* at creating boost at high RPMs than a supercharger and wildly less efficient at producing boost at low RPMs. My wife’s car has a two stage boost, an electronically driven supercharger at low RPMs and a nice big turbo for higher RPM.
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