Turbos for trucks

History

The first application of a turbo was in 1905. It was used to decrease the fuel consumption of the engines of ships. The turbocharger (or in short; turbo) has been improved a lot since then. Today, almost every combustion engine put in a vehicle is equiped with a turbo. This is also the case in the world of trucks. It was soon discovered that an engine can produce a lot more torque and power with a turbo, besides being more fuel efficient.
 

Function

A modern turbocharger works as follows: The turbine side of the turbo is mounted of on the exhaust manifold of an engine. This turbine is connected to the compressor with a small axle. The exhaust gasses create flow to the turbine wheel, which will make it spin. It will need to spin extremely fast to get the desired effect. Up to 130.000 RPM. The compressor side pushes fresh air to the intercooler. The intercooler will cool down the air so it contains more oxigen. The more oxigen that is pushed in the cylinders, the better the combustion is. The cold air moves from the intercooler to the throttle body.
 

Variable Geometry Turbo

Trucks often use variable geometry turbo's these days (VGT). These differ from the normal turbo's on the turbine side. The size of the turbine is depending on the RPM's of the engine. A larger turbine needs more exhaust gasses to spool up. This would normally create a 'turbo-gap'. A smaller turbine spools up quicker but can't deliver the same performance. That's where a VGT comes in.
 

Turbo Compound

Volvo has created the D13TC engine in 2019. It stands for Turbo Compound. Volvo has made a turbo compound engine configuration before on the D12. In short, it is a second turbo that uses the exhaust gasses that have already passed the first turbine. The second turbo, however, doesn't have a compressor side. Instead, it directly adds power to the crankshaftgear. It will add an extra 50 hp or so.
 

Advice

We advice customers to use new bolts, nuts and gaskets when they mount a replacement turbo. To avoid the risk of leaking exhaust gasses.