3 ms·

>Doing away with the wastegate means that they will be limiting the amount of airflow that goes into the engine in some other way. I doubt that they are using a

by pedrocr 13y ago

>Doing away with the wastegate means that they will be limiting the amount of airflow that goes into the engine in some other way. I doubt that they are using all of the boost that the turbo creates, because it would be a risky proposition to do so. If I understood it correctly that's not what's happening. Basically you're coupling an electric motor to the turbo. When the turbo is spinning slow you feed the electrical motor some electricity and spin the turbo up, eliminating turbo lag. When the turbo starts to overspeed you run the electrical motor as a generator imposing an extra load that you store as electricity in the battery, limiting the RPMs and thus limiting the boost.

bliti 13y ago
I'm still a bit confused with the article. It does mention that they are not using wastegates. Excerpt: Instead of a waste-gate, the motor will convert that excess energy into electricity by preventing the turbo from over-speeding. I reason that they are using resistance on the electric motor to reduce the speed of the turbine. It makes more sense now. They can control the electric motor better than any wastegate by means of a computer. The resistance can then be immediately removed and boost would become available instantly because it would be spinning near the full-boost RPM (or island, as it is commonly called in the performance industry).
- pedrocr 13y ago
  >The resistance can then be immediately removed and boost would become available instantly because it would be spinning near the full-boost RPM You don't need to remove the resistance to get boost if you've only used the resistance to avoid overspeed. You've limited the turbine to max RPM and thus max boost. You only need to remove resistance or even reverse it and have the electric motor spin up the turbine when the RPMs drop below the boost value you want.
  - bliti 13y ago
    Yes, good point. Though I see this technology being used like KERS was used to preload the suspension and improve cornering. Mini boost spikes would be a possibility. In fact, an extra bit of power at the right moment can preload the suspension, too. I'm not saying they will cheat with it, but they will find a way to bend the rules a little bit. After all, you are only racing if you are cheating. :)

by pedrocr 13y ago

bliti 13y ago

I'm still a bit confused with the article. It does mention that they are not using wastegates. Excerpt: Instead of a waste-gate, the motor will convert that excess energy into electricity by preventing the turbo from over-speeding. I reason that they are using resistance on the electric motor to reduce the speed of the turbine. It makes more sense now. They can control the electric motor better than any wastegate by means of a computer. The resistance can then be immediately removed and boost would become available instantly because it would be spinning near the full-boost RPM (or island, as it is commonly called in the performance industry).

pedrocr 13y ago
>The resistance can then be immediately removed and boost would become available instantly because it would be spinning near the full-boost RPM You don't need to remove the resistance to get boost if you've only used the resistance to avoid overspeed. You've limited the turbine to max RPM and thus max boost. You only need to remove resistance or even reverse it and have the electric motor spin up the turbine when the RPMs drop below the boost value you want.
- bliti 13y ago
  Yes, good point. Though I see this technology being used like KERS was used to preload the suspension and improve cornering. Mini boost spikes would be a possibility. In fact, an extra bit of power at the right moment can preload the suspension, too. I'm not saying they will cheat with it, but they will find a way to bend the rules a little bit. After all, you are only racing if you are cheating. :)