The Origin of Turbocharger
At the end of 19th century, the predecessor of turbocharger was founded by Gottlieb Daimler on 1885. It uses a compressor to force air into the internal combustion engine. The fast industrial developed countries in Europe or America have already found a way to allow more air to enter the engine for improving the combustion efficiency 100 years ago.
The latest industrial technology in the early 20th century was always applied in the military field first. Especially the two decades after the World War II, the industrial technology has developed rapidly which has laid a solid foundation for the advancement of turbocharger. In the aviation field, because of all early propeller engines used reciprocated piston engines, a large amount of mixture which combined air with fuel were required. However, the air becomes thinner as the altitude rises higher which makes the maximum climb altitude for the aircraft gets restricted. At that time, engineers tried to start using additional mechanic tool to force more air into the chamber so that solving the power of aircraft in high altitude.
With the end of World War II, a large amount of military technologies were gradually applied to mass production abilities. So which is the first car with the turbocharger in the world? The first model with a turbocharger powered by exhaust gas is the Oldsmobile Jetfire made in United States of America in 1962. The other one is the Chevrolet Corvair Monza which was produced in the same year.
In the 1980s, the development of automotive technology has made the turbocharger’s industry more popular. Turbocharger can be seen in small cars, large commercial vehicles and large machinery nowadays. The innovation and development of turbocharger also laid a solid foundation for the coming golden age of high-performance vehicles.