Prowler Super Carger
First of all we (ATVonics) use both Super Chargers and certain Turbo's depending on the application. We could debate Turbo's vs SuperChargers all day long.
But here's the scoop this is a SuperCharger system, cog belt driven directly from the crank.
The actual superCharger head is a Pro-charger specially made for ATVonics designed for small cc applications. It's made from solid billet 6061 aluminum,U.S.A. made, self contained step up gear driven impeller system like a turbo but its belt driven, so it builds instant boost and all across the power band but doesn’t use exhaust to drive it. Anyone who follows car racing knows Pro-charger they work..... An they have many world records to prove it.
So for small engine applications you can develope instant boost and torque; you don’t have to wait for the exhaust to spin up the impeller (turbo lag).
And because its belt driven you don’t pick up all of the heat from the exhaust drive side like turbo's, the boost charge stays cool and O2 dense.
Also because its cog belt driven you can easily change your boost levels by just changing one of the drive pulleys and thus changing you ratio's to the SuperCharger.
We suggest setting the boost at 7-8 lbs max, a good safe boost level. However certain customers that are racing or running only at very high altitude applications on some of our UTV track vehicles have it running at higher boost. Why because they are in thin air and need the extra boost to regain power loss.
A couple of things effect small engines and can cause problems especially under boost.
1. Heat... small engine need to remain cool, if you run a hot boost charge into engines they can be affected in many ways. Some of the most devastating effects are detonation, overheating and even engine failure.
That's why turbos should always run Intercoolers to cool this charge because it's a hot charge (exhaust driven); we only use intercoolers to gain even more power not as a necessity.
2. Oil supply... these engines don’t have a lot of Oil to utilize. Our system is self contained, needs no oil supply from the engine. Eliminating another problem, no extra oil tanks, no external oil pumps and lines running hot oil to and from the engine and charger head. Less chance of oil failure to the engine or charger head and engine oil remains cooler.
3. Some believe turbo's are free horsepower, and don’t draw power from the engine and that exhaust is free power. Not quite true. Think of your engine as a big air pump. The easier exhaust flows from the engine the cooler it runs and less restriction on the engine. The pistons pump the expelled and burnt air charge out of the engine. If the piston has to push the air out of the exhaust and thus push an impeller on a turbo then it draws energy to push this restricted exhaust out. It draws power off the crank for the piston to push the exhaust out into a restricted flow.
If you don’t believe me then put a restriction plug in your exhaust and see what it does to engine horse power and engine temps.
Now I'm not here to dive into the age old debate of Turbo vs Super Charger and which one is best. I think their are applications for both.
However for small engines that doesn’t drive a lot of exhaust flow most turbo's will have some lag and not as lower end torque power. If you pick a tiny turbo that spools quickly and provides low end torque, then it runs out of demand boost on the high end. On the other hand if you choose a turbo that is larger and has a lot of deliverable boost charge then it takes a while for the exhaust to build up enough pressure to spool the turbo and a thing called (Turbo lag) happens. This really shows its ugly face on the smaller engines that don’t produce a lot of exhaust flow like say, a big block Chevy.
And yes their are ways to reduce these conditions and sequentially run turbos together and get huge power all of the way through the power band, from low end to high end.
But now you’re talking about a big expense and a huge set up.
For those of you who don’t know what this is, it's having a small quick spool turbo directly feed a larger volume turbo in sequence.
Mostly for racing, their are a lot of things that can go wrong here....
So in this case for a UTV that really needs low end torque and huge power up to say 65- 70 mph then the simple and cost effective solution is a direct drive Super Charger to builds instant boost.
For certain other applications a turbo is the only logical choice, and I personally believe their is only one turbo on the market that we use, for all of the above reasons.
Let the comments fly.........................
