You may be asking yourself, What's a Supercharger? Or you may have also heard the term "blower" thrown around during discussions about the subject.
The short answer is that a Supercharger, also referred to as a "blower," is a system that forces more air into engine cylinders than the amount that would be naturally drawn by the piston suction during the intake stroke. Hence the difference between "naturally aspirated" and "supercharged" engines.
In other words, when your engine is running at speed, atmospheric pressure (approx. 14.7 psi at sea level) is unable to push a full charge of air/fuel mixture into the cylinders during the intake stroke, before the valve closes, so volumetric efficiency is reduced.
You can try to compensate this by porting, polishing, using a different camshaft and more, but as long as you're relying on atmospheric pressure, you're still limited by the 14.7 psi that Mother Nature delivers (again, at sea level, and less at higher altitudes).
At that point it becomes obvious that the only viable alternative is to use an air engine pump, which is exactly what a supercharger is.
In this revised edition of Street Supercharging, A Complete Guide To - Roots, Centrifugal, Twin Screw Superchargers, author and industry veteran Pat Ganahl covers all you'll need to know when it comes to superchargers. From the basics and history of the supercharger to how to build your engine so it will handle the the demands and stress of a blower, plus valuable info on how to tweak factory supercharger systems.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Pat Ganahl is the author of several CarTech books, including How to Paint Your Car on a Budget and Custom Painting. He is a life-long hot rodder. Pat lives in Southern California.
Note: This manual is a print on demand by the publisher. It now has black and white photos and diagrams instead of color. This manual is harder to find; however, we keep this manual in stock and offer Free and Fast Shipping to our continental US48 customers.
Subject: Engine supercharging. Roots, centrifugal, Twin Screw blowers. ISBN-10: 1613251319 | ISBN-13: 9781613251317 | CarTech SA17P
- Chapter 1 - Blower Basics: The Air Engine | Street Supercharging | What is a Supercharger? | What a Supercharger Does | Types of Superchargers
- Chapter 2 - Blower Background: A Short History of Supercharging | Blowers in Europe | Superchargers in the United States | Hot Rod Supercharging | Street Supercharging
- Chapter 3 - How Blowers Work: Density, Volume and Pressure | The Gas Law | The Problem of Heat | Blower Efficiency | The Air Density Ratio | The Limits of Supercharging | Expansion Ratio and Thermal Efficiency | Let's Get Practical
- Chapter 4 - Vintage Superchargers: Early McCulloch Blowers | The Frenzel | The S.CO.T./Italmeccanica | Early GMC Kits | The Judson and Other Vane Types | Latham | Magna Charger | BandM Automotive
- Chapter 5 - The New Centrifugals: Centrifugal Superchargers vs. Turbochargers | Vortech and Paxton Superchargers | ATI ProCharger
- Chapter 6 - Modern Roots Blowers: GMC Blowers | GMC Blower Builders | New Old Roots | The New Roots
- Chapter 7 - Screw-Type Superchargers: Whipple | Kenne Bell | Vortech-Lysholm
- Chapter 8 - Building the Street-Supercharged Engine: Block, Crank, Rods | Pistons and Rings | Cylinder Heads | Camshafts and Valve Train | Fuel System | Air Cleaners and Intercoolers | Ignition | Exhaust
- Source Guide.
