A pressure wave supercharger (also known as a wave rotor) is a type of supercharger technology that harnesses the pressure waves produced by an internal combustion engine exhaust gas pulses to compress the intake air. Its automotive use is not widespread; the most widely used example is the Comprex, developed by Brown Boveri. Ferrari tested such a device during the development of the 126C Formula One car. The system did not lend itself to as tidy an installation as the alternative twin-turbocharger layout, and the car was never raced in this form. A more successful application was in the RF series diesel engine found in the 1988 Mazda 626 Capella; ultimately 150,000 Mazda diesel cars were fitted with a Comprex supercharger. Other users included Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz. The Greenpeace SmILE concept car uses a Hyprex pressure wave supercharger developed by the Swiss company Wenko AG. NASA uses wave rotors in experiments attempting to increase gas turbine efficiency. The wave rotor is placed between the compressor, combustor and turbine sections in order to extract more energy from the combustion process.
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