The Concept of Variable Turbocharger Systems

Imagine having a car that can switch between different modes, depending on your needs. This concept is often referred to as a variable turbocharger system, and it's a technology that's been discussed in the automotive industry for some time now. The idea is simple: instead of having a traditional turbocharger that always kicks in when you need boost, this system would allow you to control the level of boost depending on your driving conditions.

So, how does it work? Well, the system uses valves to direct airflow through the engine. Normally, when you start driving, the system defaults to normal mode, where the valve allows air to pass through the exhaust and into the turbocharger. The turbine in the turbocharger then compresses the air, which is mixed with fuel and injected into the engine, producing boost. However, if you don't need extra power or want to save fuel, the system can switch to a different mode.

In this alternative mode, the valve closes off the exhaust, preventing the turbocharger from spooling up. The engine would still run normally, but without the added pressure of the turbocharger. This allows for improved fuel economy when power is not needed. Additionally, the system could be designed with a variable compression ratio engine, which would allow you to switch between higher and lower compression ratios depending on whether you're using the turbocharger or not.

The benefits of this design are clear: it would allow drivers to save fuel when they don't need extra power, making it ideal for city driving or other low-power situations. It would also provide a more efficient engine, with better thermal efficiency when the turbocharger is off. Furthermore, the system could be designed with multiple modes, such as sport mode, where you'd have access to more boost and power.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to consider. The added complexity of the system could increase weight and cost, which might not be desirable for some drivers. Additionally, there's always a risk that the system wouldn't work properly in certain situations, which could lead to reduced performance or reliability issues.

One interesting point worth mentioning is that some engines have been designed with turbochargers and naturally aspirated engines of the same size, where the turbocharger engine actually produces better fuel economy than the non-turbo engine. This suggests that a variable turbocharger system could potentially work in favor of fuel efficiency, depending on how it's implemented.

Overall, the concept of a variable turbocharger system is an intriguing one, offering the potential for improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. However, further development and testing would be needed to determine whether this technology would be viable for production vehicles.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello and welcome to this week's lesson on cars now before we get things started you've probably noticed that i have a different whiteboard i've moved and so i've had to replace the old wooden one but i have upgraded i've now got an aluminum frame it's lighter more rigid unfortunately the body is magnetic so actually gain some weight but it definitely is more rigid i think it looks nice and anyways this doesn't matter at all so i'm going to talk about this week's video i'm going to be talking about turbo deactivation and it's this idea i've had for a while and i just kind of wanted to get someone else's thoughts on it um and i'm just kind of curious why this hasn't been implemented it's really not that complicated of an idea so i just want to talk about it see what you guys think and maybe it's just a bad idea who knows so anyways i've called it turbo deactivation and this the basic idea is you've got a turbo charger engine so if you haven't watched my video on turbo chargers that's probably a good place to start just so you can get the basics and then watch this video and what i've got here is an engine that you can use the turbo when you want and then you can turn it off if you want a more economical choice and you know you're just driving around the city you don't need a turbo charger you don't you're not trying to get anywhere very fast but then you take it to the track and you want the turbocharger on so basically how it works i'll just go through the components first i'm not going to explain how a turbocharger works i've got a different video for that but you've got your turbocharger you've got two separate air intakes and i'll explain why you've got these two valves and that's basically the idea behind it you've got your engine and then you've got your exhaust your catalytic converter muffler center that's that's not really not that important so what happens is is you've got say you're uh you don't want well let's say you do want your turbo on so it's just going to act like a regular turbo charged car you've got these are your two valves here and so they're going to have this little lever and you could do it with a different way i just did pretty much the most simplistic manner of creating a little hinge valve here and i'm sure it could be done better but i just want to get the basic idea across so you've got this hinge and it's just a little door that closes and so it closes off this air intake when it closes off that entire air intake the only air intake allowed is this one which feeds to the turbocharger it also closes off this exhaust path so as your engine is revving and you're creating power it's going to send your exhaust through here it's going to get to this valve and it's not going to be able to pass just straight up through the exhaust instead it's going to have to go through the turbocharger so it goes in the turbocharger spools up the turbine pulls in air through the air intake that goes through the intercooler passes through this valve which is open to allow this air to go in and then goes into your engine and you have boost and you create more power great now let's say you don't want power or extra power you're trying to go for fuel economy well you push a button and these flaps switch over so this flap now is closing this off which won't allow air to come in from the air intake and this valve here closes this off which won't allow air to go into your exhaust turbine so the exhaust goes straight through the catalytic converter now the muffler and the air intake is is more direct it doesn't come through the inlet of the turbo and go through the intercooler all right so that's your other option would it be more economical perhaps the idea being that if you don't use a turbocharger you're not forcing in as much air and if you're not forcing in as much air you're not going to be forcing in as much fuel so you'll save fuel so that's the basic idea and i would kind of uh recommend implementing three modes so see you just have like a little sport button you can push and you can be in modes one two and three mode one being off and so that would mean that your valves are closed and you just use the regular intake and you bypass the turbo partial now this is kind of an interesting idea so at low rpms you would be using it off and you would just use this and it would go straight out through the regular exhaust then when you get to higher rpms the valve actuates and switches over and then you start using or switches back sorry and then you start using the turbo charger and then you get more power at higher rpms and you have a lot less power at low rpms for an economical you know at low rpm you're getting good fuel economy and then when you do get to the higher rpm you get terrible fuel economy but you know you produce a lot of power and that's what you're going for and then a third mode full which just means you leave it how it is shown here and you just use the turbo constantly say you're at a track you don't want to just turn it off every now and then you're going to have all kinds of lags and things like that that'll happen and an idea also that i was thinking for the engine rather than just a typical engine because you're going to have a turbo and non-turbo you'd probably want to use a variable uh compression ratio engine so that you could have a higher compression ratio with the engine uh without using the turbo and then a lower compression ratio when you are using the turbo because you've got that added pressure of the turbo charger and that would also give you a better thermal efficiency when the turbo charger is off allowing you to be more efficient so the benefits of this design save fuel when power is not desired so if you're just driving around the city you don't need that extra power turn off your turbocharger and just drive your car like normal now the idea being that with a higher compression ratio and without using that extra forced in air you can save fuel i'm not really positive if that would occur but that's the idea also the ability to vary the power of the engine while keeping the air fuel ratio relatively the same so that's a good thing you can use your car on the track off the track and uh for different reasons and some of the cons some of the bad things about this and there's a decent amount so perhaps this is why it hasn't been implemented but you've got added weight you've got added complexity you've got more moving parts and you have of course an increasing cost so is it all worth it in the end perhaps not would it work properly that's what i really want to know could it work where you'd use an engine with variable compression ratio and turn off the turbocharger would you actually be able to get better fuel economy than with the turbocharger on now the reason i ask this is because there are some engines which turbo and non-turbo the turbocharger engine will get better fuel economy than the non-turbo the naturally aspirated engine of the same size and i think that's kind of kind of an interesting point so i'd like to think that it would work in your favor where you could turn off the turbo and you could save fuel but perhaps that's not the case but it's just an idea to think about let me know what you guys think in the comments and that's all for this lessonhello and welcome to this week's lesson on cars now before we get things started you've probably noticed that i have a different whiteboard i've moved and so i've had to replace the old wooden one but i have upgraded i've now got an aluminum frame it's lighter more rigid unfortunately the body is magnetic so actually gain some weight but it definitely is more rigid i think it looks nice and anyways this doesn't matter at all so i'm going to talk about this week's video i'm going to be talking about turbo deactivation and it's this idea i've had for a while and i just kind of wanted to get someone else's thoughts on it um and i'm just kind of curious why this hasn't been implemented it's really not that complicated of an idea so i just want to talk about it see what you guys think and maybe it's just a bad idea who knows so anyways i've called it turbo deactivation and this the basic idea is you've got a turbo charger engine so if you haven't watched my video on turbo chargers that's probably a good place to start just so you can get the basics and then watch this video and what i've got here is an engine that you can use the turbo when you want and then you can turn it off if you want a more economical choice and you know you're just driving around the city you don't need a turbo charger you don't you're not trying to get anywhere very fast but then you take it to the track and you want the turbocharger on so basically how it works i'll just go through the components first i'm not going to explain how a turbocharger works i've got a different video for that but you've got your turbocharger you've got two separate air intakes and i'll explain why you've got these two valves and that's basically the idea behind it you've got your engine and then you've got your exhaust your catalytic converter muffler center that's that's not really not that important so what happens is is you've got say you're uh you don't want well let's say you do want your turbo on so it's just going to act like a regular turbo charged car you've got these are your two valves here and so they're going to have this little lever and you could do it with a different way i just did pretty much the most simplistic manner of creating a little hinge valve here and i'm sure it could be done better but i just want to get the basic idea across so you've got this hinge and it's just a little door that closes and so it closes off this air intake when it closes off that entire air intake the only air intake allowed is this one which feeds to the turbocharger it also closes off this exhaust path so as your engine is revving and you're creating power it's going to send your exhaust through here it's going to get to this valve and it's not going to be able to pass just straight up through the exhaust instead it's going to have to go through the turbocharger so it goes in the turbocharger spools up the turbine pulls in air through the air intake that goes through the intercooler passes through this valve which is open to allow this air to go in and then goes into your engine and you have boost and you create more power great now let's say you don't want power or extra power you're trying to go for fuel economy well you push a button and these flaps switch over so this flap now is closing this off which won't allow air to come in from the air intake and this valve here closes this off which won't allow air to go into your exhaust turbine so the exhaust goes straight through the catalytic converter now the muffler and the air intake is is more direct it doesn't come through the inlet of the turbo and go through the intercooler all right so that's your other option would it be more economical perhaps the idea being that if you don't use a turbocharger you're not forcing in as much air and if you're not forcing in as much air you're not going to be forcing in as much fuel so you'll save fuel so that's the basic idea and i would kind of uh recommend implementing three modes so see you just have like a little sport button you can push and you can be in modes one two and three mode one being off and so that would mean that your valves are closed and you just use the regular intake and you bypass the turbo partial now this is kind of an interesting idea so at low rpms you would be using it off and you would just use this and it would go straight out through the regular exhaust then when you get to higher rpms the valve actuates and switches over and then you start using or switches back sorry and then you start using the turbo charger and then you get more power at higher rpms and you have a lot less power at low rpms for an economical you know at low rpm you're getting good fuel economy and then when you do get to the higher rpm you get terrible fuel economy but you know you produce a lot of power and that's what you're going for and then a third mode full which just means you leave it how it is shown here and you just use the turbo constantly say you're at a track you don't want to just turn it off every now and then you're going to have all kinds of lags and things like that that'll happen and an idea also that i was thinking for the engine rather than just a typical engine because you're going to have a turbo and non-turbo you'd probably want to use a variable uh compression ratio engine so that you could have a higher compression ratio with the engine uh without using the turbo and then a lower compression ratio when you are using the turbo because you've got that added pressure of the turbo charger and that would also give you a better thermal efficiency when the turbo charger is off allowing you to be more efficient so the benefits of this design save fuel when power is not desired so if you're just driving around the city you don't need that extra power turn off your turbocharger and just drive your car like normal now the idea being that with a higher compression ratio and without using that extra forced in air you can save fuel i'm not really positive if that would occur but that's the idea also the ability to vary the power of the engine while keeping the air fuel ratio relatively the same so that's a good thing you can use your car on the track off the track and uh for different reasons and some of the cons some of the bad things about this and there's a decent amount so perhaps this is why it hasn't been implemented but you've got added weight you've got added complexity you've got more moving parts and you have of course an increasing cost so is it all worth it in the end perhaps not would it work properly that's what i really want to know could it work where you'd use an engine with variable compression ratio and turn off the turbocharger would you actually be able to get better fuel economy than with the turbocharger on now the reason i ask this is because there are some engines which turbo and non-turbo the turbocharger engine will get better fuel economy than the non-turbo the naturally aspirated engine of the same size and i think that's kind of kind of an interesting point so i'd like to think that it would work in your favor where you could turn off the turbo and you could save fuel but perhaps that's not the case but it's just an idea to think about let me know what you guys think in the comments and that's all for this lesson\n"