[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by Sellout

They (rotrex) claim that it alters the transfer of torque as needed. What that means is that only as much torque as is needed to spin the impeller gets transferred to the impeller drive shaft.

Clever marketing. An all wheel drive Porsche pulling a wheelie on a drag-strip only transfers enough torque to the front wheels to make them spin in the air. This is just how the physics of a drivetrain work.

The reality is that in order to dynamically accelerate the impeller shaft at a higher rate as needed, something in that drive system absolutely must be adjustable for a different gear ratio. (Think CVT) Otherwise it's just not possible.

As for adjustments based on load, the supercharger will never see anymore "load" than what is needed to spin the impeller, and that load isn't going to change from one pull to the next. The real benefit of their drive system is that it's nearly silent. That's pretty much all.

I can remember when the Kraftwerks system was being developed for the S2000. There was a whole lot of speculation about Rotrex's wording and what it meant. The general consensus among damn near everyone on S2Ki was that it was going to be magical. The planets were going to align, polar ice would stop melting, the middle east would be peaceful, and a centrifugal supercharger would rival a twin screw for torque delivery. Then the system was finished, and there were a few of us who were not surprised in the least to see that the boost curve and resultant dyno sheet was damn near identical to every other centrifugal. I can't call it snake oil because clearly the traction drive does work, and rotrex doesn't come out and say that it does what everyone on the forums expects it to. You just can't forget that the impeller is tied directly to the crankshaft. As such, if you want 10 psi at 3k rpm, you're going to have more than 10 psi and much warmer air at 6k rpm.

This makes sense