Articles
SuperTurbo Vehicle Demonstrator
November 5, 2018
SuperTurbo Technologies’ vehicle demonstrator, a Peterbilt 389 with Cummins ISX15 engine, continues to provide great value for validating efficiency improvement and enhancing durability in real world operating conditions.
The approach to testing has been to capture a large amount of data under different operating conditions with both the stock turbocharger and SuperTurbo on the interstate highways and country roads across Northern Colorado. The vehicle weight with trailer is 78,000 pounds and average time to switch between the stock turbo and SuperTurbo is 4 hours. During all conditions, the vehicle’s stock aftertreatment system is fully operational and there have been no NOx out penalties for efficiency improvement.
The test results over the past 18+ months consistently indicate the SuperTurbo provides a 3% fuel efficiency improvement at highway cruise and 6% during the HHDDT drive cycle. These results confirm prior GT-Power simulation models.
The SuperTurbo is a driven turbocharger which uses a mechanical continuously variable transmission, supplied by Dana, to control the speed of the turbo shaft. This allows for the use of more efficient turbine designs due to the lack of concern with overspeed and lag. The SuperTurbo improves efficiency and reduces emissions by precisely controlling and balancing boost pressure, air fuel ratio, high pressure EGR with supercharging or compounding power.
