Toyota & the future of turbo technology
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Lexus Champion
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Toyota & the future of turbo technology
Found an extremely interesting article on upcoming advances on turbo technology. It is a great read, you might want to take a look.
Source: Autospeed
A few excerpts:
It is really worth the read if you are interested in this stuff. The article contains much more information along with diagrams and graphs. Enjoy.
Source: Autospeed
A few excerpts:
In a seminal paper, Hiroshi Uchida of the Toyota Central Research and Development Labs has given a dramatic technical insight into where turbocharging is headed. The paper, Trends in Turbocharging Technologies, shows how turbos will be used in the next decade of high fuel efficiency, low CO2 emissions engines. Linking compound twin turbocharging with electric motor assist and variable geometry turbos, Uchida explains the form in which turbos will dominate production car engineering.
High specific power will be achieved not only with more extensive use of variable nozzle turbos and variable vane turbos, but also by means of turbos boasting electric motor assist. The latter technology has been mooted for years (see Turbo Revolution - The Coming Technologies Part 2) but is now getting very close to public release. And it’s not just in diesels. The same forces are driving petrol engines towards smaller capacities and higher efficiencies – and that spells forced aspiration.
From all that you could assume the problems are as good as solved: just fit an electric motor to a variable geometry turbo. However, there are aerodynamic, thermal and electrical problems to be overcome.
Firstly, there is the problem of compressor surge. Compressor surge occurs when the turbo is developing a lot of boost (a high “pressure ratio”) but at a low flow rate. An electric assist turbo readily falls into this category – high boost is needed at low engine revs, where there is relatively little airflow being consumed. When surge occurs, the airflow is instable and loud noises can be created. (Interestingly, Uchida doesn’t say anything about surge causing turbo longevity problems.)
Firstly, there is the problem of compressor surge. Compressor surge occurs when the turbo is developing a lot of boost (a high “pressure ratio”) but at a low flow rate. An electric assist turbo readily falls into this category – high boost is needed at low engine revs, where there is relatively little airflow being consumed. When surge occurs, the airflow is instable and loud noises can be created. (Interestingly, Uchida doesn’t say anything about surge causing turbo longevity problems.)
The testing carried out by the Toyota Central Research and Development Labs indicates that the use of a compound twin turbo system with variable nozzle turbos, dual intercoolers and electric assist on the smaller turbo is viable technology.
Writes Uchida: “It seems clear, therefore, that in the future the individual development of engines and turbochargers will be supplanted by the development of turbocharged engine systems.
“Turbocharged engines incorporating new technologies are expected to make a major contribution to satisfying the demands for reduced CO and NOx emissions.“
Writes Uchida: “It seems clear, therefore, that in the future the individual development of engines and turbochargers will be supplanted by the development of turbocharged engine systems.
“Turbocharged engines incorporating new technologies are expected to make a major contribution to satisfying the demands for reduced CO and NOx emissions.“
Lexus Fanatic
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Awesome article, thanks for such a great find! Looks like Toyota has as usual a lot of surprises hidden in it's labs. A few years ago Toyota publicly stated they were moving away from forced induction in gasoline engines, and focusing only on naturally aspirated engines. With this new turbo system though there are a lot of tempting advantages and a lot of previous flaws of forced induction seem to be solved. Looks like Toyota is hinting that they may once again move to turbo gasoline engines. Combine that with the fully electric variable valve timing that Toyota also has in it's research and development labs, and we may see a big leap in engine technology. Exciting times for the auto industry 
.
.
EV ftw!!!
Joined: Nov 2002
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From: Lake Ontario
Awesome article, thanks for such a great find! Looks like Toyota has as usual a lot of surprises hidden in it's labs. A few years ago Toyota publicly stated they were moving away from forced induction in gasoline engines, and focusing only on naturally aspirated engines. With this new turbo system though there are a lot of tempting advantages and a lot of previous flaws of forced induction seem to be solved. Looks like Toyota is hinting that they may once again move to turbo gasoline engines. Combine that with the fully electric variable valve timing that Toyota also has in it's research and development labs, and we may see a big leap in engine technology. Exciting times for the auto industry .
.
However I wouldn't call it exactly "a big leap in engine technology". The internal combustion engine has been around since cars were invented over 100 years ago. To this day and age we are still using the same basic technology - internal combustion. Of course, all "other" technologies on top of the Internal Combustion have improved, but at the end of the day, the engine's basic method of propulsion is the same exact thing from over 100 years ago - controlled explosions push pistons up and down.......
Why do you think this is "a big leap in technology"?
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Lexus Fanatic
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From: A better place
Kudos to Toyota for refining and developing all these new technologies to improve the Internal Combustion engine.
However I wouldn't call it exactly "a big leap in engine technology". The internal combustion engine has been around since cars were invented over 100 years ago. To this day and age we are still using the same basic technology - internal combustion. Of course, all "other" technologies on top of the Internal Combustion have improved, but at the end of the day, the engine's basic method of propulsion is the same exact thing from over 100 years ago - controlled explosions push pistons up and down.......
Why do you think this is "a big leap in technology"?
However I wouldn't call it exactly "a big leap in engine technology". The internal combustion engine has been around since cars were invented over 100 years ago. To this day and age we are still using the same basic technology - internal combustion. Of course, all "other" technologies on top of the Internal Combustion have improved, but at the end of the day, the engine's basic method of propulsion is the same exact thing from over 100 years ago - controlled explosions push pistons up and down.......
Why do you think this is "a big leap in technology"?
As for the "big leap", electrically motor assisted turbos solve many of the flaws of turbo engines. There has not been a big change in turbo engine technology for decades, so I would consider this a big change. Same thing with fully electric variable valve timing. When VVT first came to market, it was a big change. It was a change in one of the major and fundamental parts of the engine. With a fully electric system, valve timing will no longer be hydraulically/oil controlled. This will improve reliability, dramatically enhance valve timing precision, and therefore will improve performance as well as fuel economy.
Electric motor assisted turbos together combined with fully electric VVT is a big leap because it would mean double digit percentage increases in fuel economy, HP and torque, as well as significant decreases in emissions.
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EV ftw!!!
Joined: Nov 2002
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From: Lake Ontario
Fundamental change = big leap in technology = just a bunch of words that mean the same thing to me.
I still think it is amazing how the basic engine has improved over the years though. But I still don't consider it a "big leap in technology".
I still think it is amazing how the basic engine has improved over the years though. But I still don't consider it a "big leap in technology".
Lexus Champion
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wow.. and I thought Toyota had given up on turbos and now they've found a new way to bring them back.
Does this mean the rumour of a turbo Prius with Li-Ion was true? Well I don't know since this turbo thing still seems to be a few years away.
Does this mean the rumour of a turbo Prius with Li-Ion was true? Well I don't know since this turbo thing still seems to be a few years away.
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True or not, it makes sense. With Toyota's experience in hybrids now, it would be logical for them to electrically assist turbos, and move to a fully electric variable valve timing system. With that in mind, the valve timing and turbo systems would integrate very nicely with the hybrid system.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,192
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From: none
True or not, it makes sense. With Toyota's experience in hybrids now, it would be logical for them to electrically assist turbos, and move to a fully electric variable valve timing system. With that in mind, the valve timing and turbo systems would integrate very nicely with the hybrid system.
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