This WebridesTV video is from the Garret booth at the MPMC and is hosted by Kyle Snyder, a performance market analyst for Garrett. They are the world’s largest turbocharger manufacturer and they make between 250,000 – 300,000 units a day.
As automobile manufacturers are gravitating towards lower polluting cars to meet new CAFÉ standards, turbochargers are becoming more appealing solutions in the quest to produce more efficient engines. It turns out there actually IS a replacement for displacement and that is forced inductions. More OEMs will begin replacing their larger motors with their smaller, turbocharged siblings. This gives the convenient option of sipping gas while cruising along at highway speeds while being able to deliver high horsepower when the hammer is dropped.
Turbocharging increases engine efficiency because the turbine is taking a waste product from the engine (exhaust gasses) and converts it into another source of power for the engine.
Kyle also talks about the conversion of more cars on the streets into diesel engines. He claims that 20% of the cars on the road will be diesel models within 10-15 years. Almost all diesel engines feature turbochargers and a great deal of those units will be supplied by Garrett.
To ensure quality, Garrett does a whole battery of tests on each of its turbocharger lines. On Engine Durability test is a stress test that tests the capabilities of a turbocharger to run continuously for 1000 hours. The Gas Stand Cyclic Durability Test is a 500 hour test that stresses each unit to its maximum. The Compressor and Turbine Housing Containment test is a process where the turbine wheel is made to simulate failure while spinning at high speeds. The Shaft Motion test will stress the maximum tolerances of the bearing system for stability while at operating speeds. A Thrust Bearing Capacity test will stress the thrust bearing at high operating loads. To avoid oil “coking” in the center housing, the turbocharger unit is heated up beyond maximum operating temperatures and immediately shut down multiple times.
