What exactly is a turbo?

[FutureBumbleBee]

I see a lot of cars with a turbo engine, or a twin turbo etc... and they have a ton of extra horsepower. Is a turbo like a magic box or something that adds a bunch of power? And how do they work?

[MuscleCarz]

In a nut shell, A turbo draws air from the exhaust and forces it (forced induction) in to the engine at a level higher than the normal vacuum draw of the intake(boost).

There's a lot more to turbocharging than that, but if you thought it was a "magic box", that'll be enough to get you started.

[Rtoups]

Magic box, huh?

[CamaroSpike23]

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/turbo.htm

[coolman]

Originally Posted by MuscleCarz

In a nut shell, A turbo draws air from the exhaust and forces it (forced induction) in to the engine at a level higher than the normal vacuum draw of the intake(boost).

There's a lot more to turbocharging than that, but if you thought it was a "magic box", that'll be enough to get you started.

You going to have the boy all screwed up. A turbo doesn't draw air form the exhaust. It uses the exhaust gases to spin a rotor that is attached to another rotor in the inlet air side of the motor to increase airflow into the motor which allows for more fuel. This make a bigger air/ fuel charge in the cylinder thus making more power. Exhaust gases wouldn't make for very good combustion air.

[fazm]

Originally Posted by coolman

You going to have to boy all screwed up. A turbo doesn't draw air form the exhaust. It uses the exhaust gases to spin a rotor that is attached to another rotor in the inlet air side of the motor to increase airflow into the motor which allows for more fuel. This make a bigger air/ fuel charge in the cylinder thus making more power. Exhaust gases wouldn't make for very good combustion air.

tell that to the egr valve

[coolman]

Originally Posted by fazm

tell that to the egr valve

That wasn't the point and besides ,the egr valve provides very little air compaired to the rest. I made the point to show him the motor is not using the exhaust gas for combution air.

[MuscleCarz]

That's what I meant.

[Mindz]

Spike's link is the best answer so far.

Turbo is basically a fan that spins using your exhaust. The fan blows air into your intake/engine so now your engine is compressing more air than normal. The bigger volume of air is condensed, making a bigger explosion and more power.

A super charge is basically the same thing. It's run off a belt connected to your engine to run a "fan" that blows air into your intake.


TLR
More air flow into your engine = more compression = more boom = more power.

[coolman]

Originally Posted by MuscleCarz

That's what I meant.

Hey that's cool. I just didn't want him trying to pipe exhaust gases into his new baby.

[MuscleCarz]

[coolman]

Hey new tecnology! Sell it to toyota or honda.

[MrIcky]

How stuff works is a great site. Good stuff to be had there.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by FutureBumbleBee

I see a lot of cars with a turbo engine, or a twin turbo etc... and they have a ton of extra horsepower. Is a turbo like a magic box or something that adds a bunch of power? And how do they work?

Engines mix air and fuel and burn it. The more fuel and air you burn, the more power you make. This is why large displacement engines tend to have more power but lower fuel economy (though thats not always the case). But if you have a limited displacement you are going to need to force more air into the cylinders than they would normally hold if you want any significant power gains. This is where superchargers come in. They are air pumps that feed pressurized air into the engine. A turbo charger is a type of supercharger, though when people mention a supercharger its typically in reference to a belt driven one. As others have mentioned, a turbo is driven by the exhaust gasses.

A twin turbo uses 2 turbo chargers rather than just one. On top of that, there are 2 different twin turbo configurations, but we'll save that for another day.