The Blade Supercharger by British company Lontra is a variable mass flow positive displacement compressor that can be used for both petrol and diesel engines. It is said to be able to change boost pressure without changing rotational speed.
The supercharger uses a variable port design which allows for a realtime variation of mass-flow and internal compression ratio. So far the few prototypes that have been built demonstrate as much as a 20% efficiency gain over traditional compressors. The Blade Supercharger uses a rotary device with a wrapped toroidal chamber. A rotating blade passes through a slot in a rotating disc once per cycle. The compressor is oil free, compact and is said to be low in vibration and noise.
The UK Technology Strategy Board has awarded a grant to a consortium comprising of Lontra as well as Ricardo and Ford Motor Company to implement the Lontra Blade Supercharger in a Ford vehicle demonstrator, coupled to a downsized engine. The prototype vehicle is expected to be completed this year.
Downsizing is very very popular in Europe indeed. For those that don’t know what downsizing means, it’s basically replacing a regular normally aspirated engine with a much smaller engine that puts out the same or better power thanks to technologies such as forced induction. An example – we are used to 2.0 litre Camrys and Accords here but the Volkswagen Passat is available in Europe with a 1.4 litre that is turbocharged and makes the equivalent power and even more torque.
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Turbocharge is the way to go for all engines.
Smaller engines mean lighter cars mean better fuel efficiency. So why not?
similar to a centrifugal pump eh?
Looks complicated but anyway, gogo for better technology.
pure genius!
Now THATS impressive! but these new downsized engines needs the latest high quality fuel….ron 95> in europe they’re even got Ron 100
(anyone who can explain bout this fuel ‘ron-ron’ thingy plz do explain….im quite blurr on this matter)
that ron thing you are refering to is the fuel octane rating. just google it you lazy ass
Check Wikipedia….
Forgot the abbreviation but I think it’s something to do with how easy it is for the fuel to combust under pressure. The higher the number, the harder it is (hence you can get better compression ratio) to explode. Different countries might have different ratings. RON95 here might not equal to US/EUROPE/JAPAN RON95 (others also might not equal).
how they make sure the rotational speed is match wf the iner inducted plate?
Downsizing is already popular in Bolehland for quite some time.. back in the days kancil 850 owners switch to 660cc turbo from miras, to these days where kenari/kelisa owner downsize from their 989cc to 660cc turbo from L7 and L9…
not all downsized engines require higher RON petrols.. higher RON usually for big cc or high compression engines, where smaller cc engines drinks ron95 is sufficient enough…
japs realize this long time ago…..
only now western have to admit to the japs…
And yet Japs are aping the Western cars in terms of styling. Ironical isn’t it.
So.. which JDM car is using this now?
This supercharger looks good in theory, but I bet there is a balancing issue with their moving parts. It can be solved easily with a dumb weights attached.
The other thing I fear the the lack of tolerance to vibration. if the disc hits the spinning wheel, then the whole thing is gone!
implode! that’s one helluva mess..