Comparison To Sliding Vane
The innovation of the Powerplus was to take the sliding-vane design and to address its main drawbacks. Although the simple sliding-vane design is straightforward to manufacture, having simply shaped component parts, the spring-loaded vanes rub on the housing and this friction requires lubrication. In the 1920s, it was common for supercharged cars to have large consumable oil tanks mounted alongside the supercharger. Their HC exhaust emissions are not recorded.
By adding a set of eccentrics and guide slots to the axle of the supercharger, the Powerplus actively controls the position of these vanes, such that they maintain a constant small clearance from the walls of the housing. This is enough spacing to avoid friction, but close enough to keep pumping efficient.
Read more about this topic: Powerplus Supercharger
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