110 Years of Turbocharging

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Byron510
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110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by Byron510 »

I'm not advertising the company that I have been working with for the past 15 years intentionally, but many of us on this board are technically minded, and I thought you might like this little video on the history of turbocharging. This from the point of view of my company which has significantly pushed the turbocharging technology and development to where it is today in larger commercial applications - 2000 - 28 000 HP, per turbo. Initially for marine and traction (locomotive) use, today power generation with marine make up most of our applications.

The design trickle-down effect into stuff we consider big turbos in the automotive world is undeniable. Last year I was at a trade show looking at the brand new Cummins turbo diesel. They had this wonderful looking cutaway of the engine and turbo. The turbo is no doubt a direct descendent, in design principals, of ABB’s own commercial radial turbocharger of 15 years ago (for applications in the 1500 - 8000 HP range). This Cummins turbo was the most advanced small engine turbo I have seen to date, incorporating all of the known design features of a modern turbo design into a compact unit meant for engines in the 500 -1500 HP rage. Very cool.

But the technology continues to evolve. Our 2 stage turbo systems for diesel and gas engines (natural gas because I know you’ll ask) have now push past 10 bar (145 psi) while still increasing efficiency through extreme scavenging and lean burn designs. The highest current production use of this amazing technology is around 9 bar, however we will see a significant increase in this performance level and increased pressure in the coming years.

Enjoy a letting video that my company tried not to be too terribly commercial - many of you will enjoy this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-vssQtP8w

Byron
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two_68_510s
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by two_68_510s »

That was fun, thanks Byron. Amazing numbers on that container ship!!!
Joel

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by PoorMtnKid »

Cool video, would love to see pictures of these ship turbos. I could only iamgine their size.
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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You asked - here is a photo of a turbo in a deep sea container ship, which had the largest engine I have touched personally, and is the largest turbo made, period.

The engine produces 86000 HP - that's not a mistype.... daily! This turbo is actually built to last 100000 RHS, in a deep sea vessel that about 19 years of operation. If continuous operation were possible, that's 11 1/2 years.

The turbine side of this turbo produces 10000 HP through the shaft just to drive the compressor wheel, which move 57 cubic meters of air per second through a 450mm/18" pipe at 4 bar/60 psi. Now keep in mid this is a 12 cyl 2 stroke diesel. It's producing 60 psi though an 18" pipe when the other side of the cooler is basically open to atmosphere as there will be at least one cylinder open at any given time (980mm/38.5" bore cylinder with a 2.5m/8' stroke)

And there are 3 of these turbo's on this engine with 3 individual charge air coolers (air to water intercoolers)...

It's a hell of a machine, but one of many floating around our planet - and they do get bigger as this was only a 10 000 TEU vessel. This year saw the commissioning of 16000 TEU vessels, and 20 000 TEU vessels are now on the order book which we will see in a few years’ time.

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by bertvorgon »

Yah, know, with a little massaging of the hood, I think I can get that to fit.

I bet it would take a week for boost to build though.
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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I think that we could hook up 20 of our 510's, running full bore into the ultimate pulse manifold, and still not overcome the friction on the bearings to make one turbo rotor turn, much less ever build enough gas flow to actually produce boost. :-)
But then on the other hand, could the same 20 engines even take in 57 cubic meters of air a second at 4 bar?

Not to take away from my own thread, but this comes to mind....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pn4Q-s3Sas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I9k9rHB4EA

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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Hugh Macinnes
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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510rob wrote:Hugh Macinnes
Huge Machines?







:D
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by PoorMtnKid »

bertvorgon wrote:Yah, know, with a little massaging of the hood, I think I can get that to fit.

I bet it would take a week for boost to build though.
Haha enough boost for all of us
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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What kind of heat do these generate?
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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I'll assume you mean exhaust temp at the turbocharger gas inlet casing - 420-460 degrees C, (780-860 F) for this heavy fuel application. Medium speed marine diesel can get up to 550 C (1020F) however natural gas applications can get as high as 780 C (1440F). Keep in mind - that's literally all day long!
For this engine, it would be ramped up in Asia, and it runs at that full speed for the 9 days it takes to get here - no backing off – 9X24 hour days at full throttle. And it'll do this for 36 000 hours before we even open it up to check it. The rotating components are rated to last 100 000 hours, but many customers do that half again. We are not talking about a little 10-20 second WOT squirt through a few cycles like a 1/4 mile run or stop light grand prix. Now that's the real engineering to me - I find it fascinating, really.

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by bertvorgon »

Hugh Macinnes, my bible from 1972'ish on.
"Racing makes heroin addiction look like a vague wish for something salty" - Peter Egan

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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

Post by PoorMtnKid »

That is pretty awesome. I'm a business banker so when I get to see manufactures shops its amazing. Never seen anything like this before being in Las Vegas, but I have seen some cool shops. I catch my self watching "How its Made" all the time now.
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Re: 110 Years of Turbocharging

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Yessss!!! How Its Made is the best show on TV!!!
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