i have no idea and was just wondering.. what is the difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger?

 

Well lets see. A supercharger is driven by the crank by a huge belt like 2 or 3 or even four inches wide. Anyway it uses some pretty cool looking fans that run perpendicular to each other that produces the boost into your intake to produce horepower. And for your tubocharger, it is an exhaust driven fan to produce boost( you see those realy cool gauges in alot of diesels) from the exhaust coming out of the manifold hence free power, as from the supercharger takes power away from your crank. But you could also loose power from aturbo also if not set up properly. Thats why most people when they get a bigger exhaust they tend to go for a larger down pipe to open up the restriction created there. I don't recall I have ever seen a supercharger on a diesel though. Hope that sheds some light at the end of the tunnel....

 

Supercharger = forces air in/runs off crank via belt

Turbocharger = forces exhaust gases out / ran off exhaust

 

Don't want to start an arguement(but I know I will)a supercharger is a parasitc load on the engine that forces more air in to the engine which in turn produces more power ie detroit 6-71, a turbo works off the spent fuel(exhaust gases) which is "free" energy to spinthe turbine and force more air in to the combustion chambers. So where as the supercharger provides boost from 0 to infinite rpm's the turbo needs to "spool up" to force desired air in to the engine.blah blah I could write pages on this but am getting tired.

 

so a supercharger is a "blower" right?

 

Superchargers, also know as blowers force air into the motor.
All are driven off the crank , and actually take power to operate. For example , the supercharger on my Racecar took 65 horsepower in order to spin.

A turbocharger works with the exhaust gases. The more exhaust, the more boost, the faster you go. Due to it running off the exhaust, turbo's do not "eat" any horsepower.

A CON for turbo's is that you will experience " turbo-lag" or "spool-time". This is because when you mash the gas pedal , their is not enough exhaust to make any amount of boost , but as the truck gets going , the boost levels start to climb. Thus a porsche 911Turbo might not be as fast as my racecar in a quarter mile , but will blow my doors off on the tollway.

A PRO for superchargers is that the power is always their , yes boost will raise the more throttle you give it , but their is really no "turbo-lag" with a supercharger - well - not nearly as much as with a turbo.

 

so why is the turbocharger prefered on the diesel over a supercharger?

 

I remember reading a tech article long ago saying the downside of the mechanically-driven supercharger (blower) is that at higher RPMs, the blower can take more power to operate than it adds to the engine.

Conversely, the only power "drain" from an exhaust-driven turbocharger is the exhaust restriction- which can be compensated for by making the pipes and turbine larger. Note that the turbo does NOT suck exhaust out of the engine- the turbo is an "engine" that drives a "pump" (the compressor wheel) that shoves more air INTO the engine.

Downside is that the less-restrictive turbo takes more flow before it spins up and provides noticable boost- hence the turbo lag.

Most automotive systems look like they're designed to provide modest boost at modest RPMs, and use a wastegate to divert exhaust around the turbine to avoid over-boosting.

But the engineers are having some fun. There are some semi-performance engines with superchargers to provide better power at real-world driving speeds and RPMs, but probably don't do as well at high RPMs. I recollect Mercedes is getting into superchargers, and wasn't a version of the Pontiac Bonneville blown? Then there are the bi-turbos- my understanding is that they use one turbine optimised for moderate engine RPM, and a second optimised for high RPM. Best of both worlds, if you can afford it.

Only constant is that there's no free lunch. Improve one characteristic, and another usually drops.