The history of turbocharging

The history of turbocharging

The history of turbocharging, and thus the history of turbochargers is almost as old as the history of the internal combustion engine. As far back as the nineteenth century, in 1885 and 1896 two German inventors and entrepreneurs (Gottlieb Daimler and Rudolf Diesel) had investigated on increasing capacity and reducing the fuel consumption of engines through initial air compression. Technological limitations meant that the first turbochargers were used only in very large motors, e.g. in marine engines. The massive use of turbocharging allowed only growth engines for trucks. A forerunner in this field was Swiss man Alfred Büchim, who in 1925 became the first to tie turbocharger with exhaust fumes, with an increase in engine power by more than 40%. The first turbocharger for the truck was created in 1938 by Swiss Machine Works Saurer company. This invention enabled the gradual introduction of turbocharging in the entire automotive industry. Chevrolet Corvair Monza and the Oldsmobile Jetfire they were the first turbocharged passenger cars. Their mass production began at the turn of 1962 and 1963. Unfortunately, the first turbochargers often went breakdown, because of this fact both models of cars were quickly withdrawn from the market of automotive passenger cars. "Golden Age" of turbochargers came ten years later. However, with time the turbocharger gradually transformed itself from "a titan power" into "little helper", which today helps minimize carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and protect the environment. Mass-produced internal combustion engines have increasingly turbocharger mounted because of their numerous advantages, among which are:

  1. high performance with low capacity
  2. small size for small installation space.
  3. higher torque at low revolutions,
  4. low noise,,
  5. economical fuel consumption..