What are Superchargers?

If you want to see your car run with greater power and at a greater speed, you might consider using a supercharger. Supercharger refers to a car device more commonly known as blower.

A supercharger is basically an aftermarket enhancement device that increases the power of internal combustion engines. It is an air compressor that is used to pump more oxygen into the combustion chamber allowing the engine to burn more fuel and increase its power.

In cars, superchargers are used to increase speed. The device accomplishes this by taking in more air for combustion which increases the amount of fuel that can be burned in a given cycle. An increase in the rate of burning fuel can increase the horsepower and speed of cars.

How Superchargers Work

Faster cars originally need a larger engine to accommodate more fuel for combustion. Larger engines, however, can be bulkier and heavier. By altering the oxygen- fuel ratio required to burn a fuel, superchargers increase the speed of cars without the need for bigger engines. Superchargers simply increase the amount of oxygen into the combustion chamber allowing more fuel to burn in a given period.

Should you supercharge your car?

Superchargers can increase the vehicle’s horsepower but it can also damage the engine. Using superchargers is also costly. Many manufacturers, for example, encourage the use of high-octane premium-grade gas for supercharged engines. Another disadvantage of using a supercharger is that it can consume a large bulk of the engine’s total output.

The advantages of superchargers, however, supersede its disadvantages. While superchargers, for example, consume some of the engine’s horsepower, they generate more power than a non-supercharged engine.

Superchargers can also increase engine power to as much as 100 percent without the necessary load of a bigger and heavier engine. This makes them the most cost-effective way to increase vehicle power.

Supercharging concerns should therefore be considered before one decides to supercharge a car. It can be helpful to select an engine that is strong enough or specified by manufacturers as suitable for supercharging. Choosing the right kind of supercharger can also help minimize the unnecessary inconveniences of certain types of superchargers.