Months after the Mini in which it is used was launched, Continental, in component maker’s tradition, has finally announced it developed the turbocharger with aluminum turbine housing – an industry first.
“Aluminum in a turbocharger designed for cars is a real milestone,” said engine systems head Wolfgang Breuer. “With this lightweight material, we are saving nearly 30% of weight compared to a conventional turbocharger while simultaneously reducing costs and achieving system benefits.”
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The turbocharger is used on the 1.5-litre, 100kW three-cylinder engine.
“It’s not just the aluminum that makes the turbocharger special; it was also developed from being a typical add-on component to an integral part of the engine,” said turbocharger chief Udo Schwerdel. “In order to meet the requirements placed on the unit and its integration in the cylinder head, we worked closely with the BMW Group starting from the simulation phase – an indication of trust that we greatly appreciate.”
Full-load operation can be enough to make common turbocharger constructions with a steel housing glow red all over, however, the aluminum turbine housing keeps a cool head.
“The double-walled aluminum housing surrounds the hottest area with a cooling water jacket,” said Schwerdel. The coolant flowing through this jacket ensures that the external housing surface does not get hotter than 120°C (248°F) and the internal temperature does not exceed 350°C (662°F) which has two benefits: “First, much less effort is required to protect neighbouring components from the heat. Second, cooling of the exhaust flow reduces the thermal load on the catalytic converter, meaning it hardly ages at all.” At the same time, the dynamic response of the electric actuator at the wastegate ensures that the catalytic converter heats up quickly.
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By GlobalDataIn keeping with the modular principle given by the customer, the turbocharger is tightly integrated in the engine (it is a fixed component of the exhaust manifold), but turbochargers with a steel housing can also be attached to the same base engine using the interface on the cylinder head. BMW is using this option for high-performance engines as well as vehicles for export to hot countries. The bearing housing is cooled from inside the turbocharger for steel variants while cooling from outside is sufficient for aluminum turbochargers.
In the Mini, 1.2kg of weight is saved per aluminum turbocharger. Since reduced weight also means reduced fuel consumption, the lightweight material supports the fuel consumption and emission targets of the automotive industry. Despite the additional expenditure for the water cooling, aluminum turbochargers are more affordable for automotive manufacturers.
“High-temperature-resistant materials such as nickel-base alloys drive up prices for turbochargers with steel housings,” said Schwerdel, “whereas our aluminum alloy is a cost-effective material.”
