Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff88
I think you just put this to bed, right here (again).
A turbo is a pressure based engine. Heat is, in essence, a form of pressure, in that the molecules react more creating a larger pressure on the surroundings (e.g. turbine). Calling it a heat engine is only a part of the puzzle, it's not the wrong answer, it's just that it's only a part of the right one.
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The same way you can have a static torque reading and produce no power until that torque results in movement over a period of time, so is the need to produce motion from the turbine. However, if the mass moving through the turbo charger turbine is too small the power produced by the turbo will also be small even though you may have a high pressure/temperature reading at the inlet reiterating the need for free flowing exhaust systems.
In the case of a turbo charger, pressure and temperature are a good measure of the mass flow through the turbo charger since one can assume the exhaust gas is constant for this calculation.