surely ?, (IMO)riff_raff wrote:It is always best to perform as much compression/expansion work as possible within the reciprocator, since it is a very efficient device for doing this work. The only reason for using a turbocharger to perform additional compression/expansion work of the intake/exhaust gas, is because the turbo system would have lower overall weight, and/or could give better performance under an extreme range of operating conditions.
the prime advantage of any kind of supercharging is to increase power by increasing massflow by increasing induction pressure
massflow is very insensitive to increase in CR, but very sensitive to absolute induction pressure
power = massflow x TE x ME
massflow increase demands some drop in HUCR (hence TE), but can raise ME by increasing power much more than friction
and much of the power to mechanically drive an efficient supercharger is 'recovered' to the crankshaft due to the favourable 'delta P'
in this way lightly supercharged SI engines were in the 30s more efficient (32-34%) than any n/a equivalents
(granted they benefited from a small fuel advantage, the n/a equivalents were presumably not optimised for the improved fuel)
national and industrial technical policies were influenced by this (doctrine of the 'ground-boosted' aero engine)
also CI