| We are closing down on flowtesting the last of the aftermarket intercoolers - Z1 has greatfully agreed to send one of their sidemount intercoolers for flowtesting, and it is looking like I've got a Greddy unit coming soon too. However, flowtesting of an intercooler is really just one side of the "big" picture" when it comes to intercooler performance. And actually, it is really just one of three pieces of the pie, and one of the smaller pieces at that. Intercooler efficiency is the ability of the intercooler to absorb the heat in the compressed air from the turbo and exchange that heat into the ambient air passing through the cooling face. This data is just as important as its flow capacity (as flow capacity relates to pressure drop). Additionally, the pressure drop the intercooler will experience as the inlet pressures are increased is going to be notably more reflective of how they perform in a real-world test. The flowbench information gives us a peek into what kind of pressure drop an intercooler has, and the data provided from the flowbench has put that relationship into perspective, but only in a two-dimensional perspective - it lacks the spread of data reflecting pressure drop over a range of different inlet pressures. There's a lot of potential power on the table when it comes down to intercooler performance as its sole job is to condense the boost charge by cooling it. The more dense/cooler you can get the air before it enters the engine, the more power you are going to make, or, the less hard your turbos have to work to produce the same power. The idea behind all of this testing is to finally quantify their performance. I've come up with an idea for a gas generator that will allow us to actually produce the airflow, pressure, and temperature outputs that our intercoolers experience in a real-world scenario, but in a controlled environment rather than on the car screaming down the streets. I already have the data acquisition equipment to allow precise measurements of airflow (using our MAS voltage to CFM conversion table we recently generated), as well as pressure transducers and thermocouples, all of which can be datalogged to produce some really useful information. The idea:
I am looking for a Vortech Centrifugal Supercharger. This type of supercharger uses a centrifugal compressor, just like what is used in a turbocharger. The only difference is that it is driven by a the crankshaft rather than by exhaust gases passing through a turbine (as in a true turbocharger). The nice thing about using this as the gas generator is that it will produce the same range of pressures, airflow, and with similar efficiency as the turbochargers do in our own cars. Given that its output is controlled solely by the RPM of the engine driving it, it will give us an easy means to test an intercooler over a wide range of airflow and pressures. I'm putting out the feelers for one of these superchargers on this forum as I know many of you have more than just a Z or that some of you may know someone who could spare a unit like this for a little while, or perhaps have one for sale at a good price. The idea isn't to mount it on a car though. A test stand will be produced to house a gasoline engine capable of driving this supercharger, and the local junkyard will be a likely source for something like this. A small carbureted gasoline engine will supply the required power/torque to drive this compressor. Suzuki Sprint 3-cylinder engine comes to mind - small, light, and probably inexpensive. In the end, this would be one hell of a flowbench that can be used to flowtest all sorts of items over some very broad operating conditions.
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[ agpowers@bellsouth.net ] Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
Are you an enthusiast? If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
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