Supercharger

A supercharger is a compressor. Hence, a supercharged engine has a higher overall compression than a nonsupercharrged engine having the same combustion chamber volume and piston displacement and will burn more fuel. Unfortunately, the increase in power is not proportional to the increase in fuel consumption. There are two general models of superchargers, the Rootes type and the centrifugal type. The Rootes "blower" has two rotors, while the centrifugal uses an impeller rotating at high speed inside a housing. Superchargers can be placed between the throttle body of the carburetor or fuel injection system and the manifold; or at the air inlet before the throttle body. Racing cars usually have it located between the throttle body and the manifold. This design has the advantage that the fuel can be supplied through the throttle body without modification to any part of the system. If the supercharger is placed in front of the throttle body, fuel must be supplied under sufficient pressure to overcome the added air pressure created by the supercharger. The advantage of a supercharger over a turbocharger is that there is no lag time of boost; the moment the accelerator pedal is depressed, the boost is increased.