Supercharging || Useful books

[r4m0n0]

Hello!

I'm searching for one or several books that involve Supercharging (mechanical supercharging if possible) to analyse theoretically the implementation of a supercharger on a stock engine. I'm less interested in the actual installation (not part of my actual proyect).

So long the most mentioned one is "Supercharged! Design, Testing and Installation of Supercharger Systems" by Corky Bell but if anyone could recommend me any other books (if possible, economical ) I would really appreciate.

Any other sources of information are also welcome (although i've searched for quite some info online already ).

Thanks in advance!

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

I have only read Maximum boost by Bell but I assume a book of his on SCs would be a good choice as well.
What is your project? Are we talking about slapping a compressor on a stock NA motor and running 5-10 PSI?
Or are you talking about designing a motor build from the ground up for maximum performance?

 

[Lou Scannon]

Charging the Internal Combustion Engine
Turbocharging is included and comprises a majority of the content, due to its commercial prominence, but mechanical supercharging is thoroughly treated as well.

"Schiefgehen wird, was schiefgehen kann" - das Murphygesetz

 

[r4m0n0]

@yoshimitsuspeed I intend on doing the first one, hoping to get as much as I can out of the engine. My experience in this type of mods is short right now, I've got a lot to learn.

@hemi Ok, thanks for the extra info, I will look into that book.

 

[yoshimitsuspeed]

In that case there are a few primary basics that will be the main focus.
Air Fuel Ratio
You will need to make sure your AFRs are in a healthy range at all times.

Timing and knock monitoring or ideally knock control by the ECU or something like a J&S safegaurd.

And temp control. Fixed displacement superchargers are horribly inefficient, especially roots style. They will make a lot of heat if you start boosting very high or running them at the higher end of their flow capability.
Twinscrew are a little more efficient but in my opinion generally not worth the cost for your average DIY build. They still aren't that efficient compared to centrifugal compressors.

Fixed displacement SCs do have one thing going for them and that is that they are massive heat sinks so you won't see the temps right away that you would expect from the maps. The SC will absorb some of that heat but as it heats up your outlet temps will as well. These aren't big concerns at 5 PSI but people have a tendency to want to push them well outside their sweet spot.

Then there are centrifugal superchargers. These have the benefit of similar adiabatic efficiency as turbos but they have one big weakness. They have a fairly linear increase of boost starting at zero PSI at zero RPM to max PSI at redline. It's not perfectly linear so even at half of redline you will usually be lucky to make half the boost you do at redline. Often at 2k-3k RPM you won't see a very noticeable amount of boost. For me this completely defeats the point of a supercharger when a properly sized turbo should hit full boost in that same range if your power goals aren't huge.

Personally I am a turbo person. Generally I like small quick spooling turbos. I don't go for record power numbers. On a motor that spins to 8000 I like to have full boost by around 3000 and a strong power curve all the way to redline. Even with a small turbo like that you will still generally have better efficiency than a fixed displacement supercharger and a broader power curve than a centrifugal supercharger.

If you are going to try to push the limits then IMO monitoring is the most important thing. With a wideband, good knock monitoring and a pyrometer plus the proper knowhow you should be able to see any issue before it becomes catastrophic. People usually blow up their motors because they cheap out on the monitoring, throw a compressor on and hope it all goes well. Sometimes it does but more often it does not.

 

[Lou Scannon]

On a motor that spins to 8000 I like to have full boost by around 3000 and a strong power curve all the way to redline.

That's impressive! Do you have a dyno sheet?

"Schiefgehen wird, was schiefgehen kann" - das Murphygesetz