Mazda working on electric supercharger system
US patent application reveals Japanese brand is headed down the path of electric forced inductionA report out of the USA has uncovered plans by Mazda to develop a forced-induction system based around an electric supercharger.
According to US mag Road & Track, a patent application has been lodged and published on the US Patents Office website. It is apparently the same technology already covered by a Japanese patent application dating back to February 2016.
So the technology has been in the works for a while, and according to the US application it relates to a longitudinally-mounted (north/south) diesel engine also equipped with twin (sequential) turbochargers.
While Road & Track questioned whether this technology could be for the MX-5 sports car, the diesel engine type and longitudinal mounting suggest this could actually be a new powertrain development for the next-generation BT-50 light commercial vehicle, which is known to be currently on the drawing board at Isuzu, or even Mazda's born-again rotary coupe previewed by the 2015 RX VISION concept.
It seems unlikely Mazda would develop a diesel MX-5.
But could Mazda be using the word 'diesel' as code for HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition), which the company is known to be developing for its future SKYACTIV-X technology?
That would leave the way open for the new forced-induction system to find its way into a lightweight sports car.
HCCI engines are designed to operate like diesels in certain conditions, and it could be inferred from the patent application that this system will be used for HCCI engines.
The patent application reads like the worst excesses of Legalese and engineering jargon all rolled into one, but the logic behind the electric supercharger appears to be thus:
- An electric supercharger will eradicate turbo lag,
- It will be on the inlet port side of the engine, safe from damaging exhaust heat,
- It will be a compact installation that can tuck in under the intercooler,
- There'll be no potentially damaging condensation build-up in the intercooler.
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