why is there a need for a intercooler on a supercharger i alwaysthought the intercooler was for the exhaust air to cool down before goin to the turbo pls help cuz im reallyconfused bout this

 

The very act of compressing the air heats it up. Most older supercharger applications didn't use intercoolers. I guess buyers have come to recognize the benefits enough that manufacturers offer/include them more often now.

 

Bingo.....the cooler the better.

 

the intercooler does not cool exhaust gases, it cools the intake charge (same for superchargers and turbos).

difference is that turbos are driven by the exhaust gases (other side of the turbine to the intake pump) and not the crank like a sc...

 

Yeah. Very little heat transfer from turbos to intake air. It's just there to cool the compressed air. Old superchargers generally never had an intercooler so its myth is that they don't need intercoolers when in fact it would have been very beneficial.

 

oo ok thats what i thought about the superchargers that they didnt need one thnks for clearing that up for me

 

You could similarly say that turbos don't need one. the point is that the process of compressing air, heats it. Heated air robs the engine of power besides having other bad side effects...

for all forced induction, intercoolers are helpful...

 

does the vortech supercharger kit come with a front mount intercooler?

 

It has a liquid to air intercooler that is mounted directly below it and a radiator that is mounted in the bumper to cool the intercooler fluid.

 

so is it visible from the front like some turbo kits or is it hidden sleeper style

 

sorry you are wrong on that,the vortech has a air to air intercooler,the stillen has a liquid cooled intercooler.

 

Yeah i was thinking about the stillen for some reason when i posted.

 

Important to understand the thermodynamic concept of compressing air.....that inefficiencies and friction of the impellers spinning in air and compressing creates the heat.

11F increase decreases total density by 1%. Balancing act between the PSI restriction of intercooler and piping vs the net cooler charge.

Losing 1.0 psi thru intercooler reduces density by 7%, dropping 77F compressed air thru intercooler gains 7%............proper intercoolers lose 0.5 psi so the net is 4%.

The major problem is gasoline has a knock index vs air temperature curve.
The intercooler can avoid excess ignition retard under boost so the GAINS from an intercooler are higher than from just the simple density improvement vs temperature. Instead of a net 4% as shown above you might get a net 6-10% depending on fuel used.

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/turbo/turbocalcs.xls

http://www.me.umn.edu/education/courses/me5461/

For those that missed this engine design course in college: hand outs, lectures, reading and SAE papers thousands of pages in pdf if you follow links in above.

 

edit sorry wrong thread

 

Nicely explained Q45tech. Well done & thank-you.