TEST BENCH FOR TURBOCHARGERS: AN USEFUL EXPERIMENTAL TOOL FOR TEACHING TURBOMACHINERY

The use of more efficient and cleaner diesel vehicles is nowadays one of the most important goals in European countries to achieve sustainable development. To achieve this objective, one of the research tasks in this field is the improvement of supercharging systems for diesel engines. For this reason mechanical engineers should be increasingly better prepared. In this paper a relatively simple experimental setup, which reproduces the operating conditions of a turbocharger, is described. In this facility all the variables that characterize the operation of both the centripetal turbine and centrifugal compressor (rotation speed, mass flow rates, temperatures and mean pressures) are monitored during their operation in steady conditions. With this facility the student can obtain temperature-entropy (T-s) and enthalpy-entropy (h-s) diagrams of each machine and can determine the operating map of the turbocharger. This tool allows the student to achieve a better understanding on how these turbomachines work. Finally, the methodological procedure and the results obtained from a test of a turbocharger, typically used in light duty diesel engines, are presented.