http://www.aerocharger.com/


Ed Carver  brought by his Aerocharger on a recent visit to the hangar.

Somehow I missed the fact all these years that is was a variable vane
turbo.
Apparently a well kept secret in the turbo charger world.
How I missed this fact I will never know. Perhaps they have good patents
and
nobody wants to talk it up. If it works as claimed it will put all the
other
turbo guys out of biz.

This unit is ideal for turbo charging an aircraft engine as you can slow
the
prop RPM with higher prop pitch and boost the HP at that RPM with the
variable vanes.

It is also ideal for turbo compound.

The convoluted design of the turbine housing leads to a cooler exhaust
impinging on the vanes and the turbine wheel. The bearing oil supply is
also
self contained. No engine oil required. One could probably use turbine oil
and have a separate oil cooler system if necessary.

This is a very innovated unit indeed.

"VATN is a series of variable-vanes that optimize the flow area of the
turbine by adapting to the exhaust gases. By doing this, the turbine wheel
is able to operate at peak efficiency throughout a wide RPM range,
something
that has never been achieved before. This also eliminates the need for a
wastegate, which conventional turbochargers rely upon to control boost.
Instead, the vanes automatically adjust the flow area and backpressure to
perfectly match the torque requirements of the compressor wheel to produce
the desired boost.
Eliminating the need for a wastgate means eliminating extra cost in your
turbo system"



Paul Lamar

Paul,

I tested one of these on a Mercedes 300d back in the Eighties. The variable
geometry aspect worked as promised, largely eliminating the turbo lag when
started from a standing start. However, the thing failed within 1000 miles.
I'm not sure if the failure was caused by the unit's unusual cantilevered
design, it's closed lubrication system, or some fluke, but I don't believe
that the Aerocharger was ever adopted for production by anybody.

Csaba



There is something that can easily be seen in the design. There are no
seals between the turbine and the compressor. So it leaks exhaust into the
cold side, and with that, carbon builds up on the back of the compressor. I
hav'nt measured the shaft to housing tolerance, guessing about 10
thousandths, so it aint much gettn through there.

I am hoping it works well enough to last a couple hundred hours anyway.
Helps simplify the under cowl plumbing. It is easy to rebuild, unlike any
turbo I have ever taken apart. Just has a couple large orings sealing the
turbine oil in. and an o ring on the spherical cap at the end of the main
shaft.

Once this cap is removed, all that is needed to dismantle the bearing
assembly is a sleeve that will fit into the ID of shaft housing while using
it to compress the spring that holds the outer race against the balls that
ride against inner race, thereby allowing the 1/8th balls to be extracted.
Just gotta make sure you can catch the balls on a towel or something. Once
the outer bearings are removed, the inner bearings are free to fall out as
well.

No need to change the oil. Clean the carbon off of the wheel, put the
bearings back in the races. Sandwich all of the housings back in place and
install the V band.

I haven't dismantled the vane assembly yet. Will post a pic or two.

Everyone will be able to read about the test results here. I should be able
to make light work of it.

Ed Carver