As the engine gains speed, there’s more exhaust flowing thru the turbine. More exhaust means more turbine speed, which means more compression, which means there’s an increase in the amount of “boost” on the air intake. The faster the engine produces exhast, the more power the turbocharger can add (at least until the turbo’s turbine reaches its maximum rotational speed, at which point the turbo is producing maximum boost and there are no more gains).Using two turbos instead of just one, where one turbocharger is designed for lower RPM ranges and the other is designed for higher RPMs.
The lag CT16V Turbocharger 17201-30110 is greatly diminished on twin-turbo vehicles.Using some advanced technology like variable vane geometry or twin scroll designs, the turbines inside the turbocharger can be designed to be more responsive to engine RPMs, lessening lag times AND increasing efficiency.But the important thing to remember here is that turbochargers generate more power (aka boost) as RPM increases, with a lag time between the instant you put your foot on the gas pedal and when the turbo starts to do its thing.One of the last things to understand about turbochargers is that compressors – like the one that’s running on the intake side of a turbocharged engine – create heat. The higher the amount of compression, the more heat that is generated.
On a standard turbocharged vehicle, this heat increases the temperature of the air that’s being pumped into the engine. As the intake air (aka intake charge) is heated, the efficiency and maximum horsepower output is reduced.After the turbocharger compresses the intake charge, the air is driven past an intercooler, which is essentially a radiator for the air intake system. The hot compressed air “surrenders” some of it’s heat to the intercooler, which reduces the intake charge temperature.Reducing the temperature of the intake air makes the air more dense, allowing more oxygen into the combustion chamber. More oxygen means more fuel can be burned, and more fuel means more power output.Cooling the engine intake air also allows for more compression.
A standard simple turbocharger often can’t increase the intake air pressure more than 10psi, as the air intake temperature becomes so high that it interferes with engine timing (the hot intake air causes pre-detonation). However, if a turbocharger is paired with an intercooler, the intake pressure can be increased considerably…15-20psi isn’t at all uncommon on stock vehicles, and modified vehicles have seen pressures as high as 40psi, 80psi, even 100psi (only there are problems with running at this extraordinary compression amount that we’re not going to cover here).