|
This is an interesting topic. I'd like an electric supercharger for DE days, but the math doesn't work out for a lap-averaged energy draw (the alternator doesn't make enough power even if it operates at 100%). A really good alternator might be able to give 2 kW average power, so if you are on the throttle roughly 50% of each lap, then you have a max of 4 kW to drive a supercharger. So not very much.
With regard to the gears, keep in mind that some superchargers are gear-driven and they have a lot of gear whine. Then there are belt-driven units that can be unreliable because of the belts.
...and then there is Rotrex, with their cool non-newtonian fluid in a planetary traction drive. If you had the money to fabricate parts to direct drive a Rotrex, then your electric motor options would greatly increase because you could drive at 10-15 krpm and still have the compressor wheel turn 90 krpm. None of the other superchargers even come close to this speed, so it seems likely that a complex Rotrex-like traction drive is necessary to get such speedups on the drive.
You might also want to look at sourcing the compressor wheel from a supercharger rather than from a turbo. Although in principle the wheels should be equivalent, it seems like the supercharger manufacturers get the maps that have the plateau a lower speeds.
|