Although this isn't the most breakthrough news of the day comming out of the NAIAS, it's still pretty interesting in a gearhead sort of way. Today at the BMW booth, a new variable turbo diesel engine was unveiled. If you're mechanically inclined and know your turbos from your muffler bearings, you'll notice that there are not one, but two turbos mounted on this powerplant. You'll also notice that they are of differing sizes, one small, one big. Using the same concept behind modern twin-scroll turbos, this one utalizes the smaller turbo to give boost at lower RPMs and then switches over the the larger one as the reves get higher. As far as boost goes, this engine puts out a lot of it: 40 psi max. Pretty substantial for a diesel. On the business end of all this is a catalyst and a particulate scrubber to keep emissions at a minium. With 40 psi of boost, and none of the nasty diesel soot, this is the type of powerplant that makes us all worry less as the auto industry slowly moves away from old fashioned petrol.
[Source: Jalopnik]
No comments:
Post a Comment