Toyota Files Electric Supercharger Patent, for Supra?

A newly published patent from Toyota reveals the automaker’s work on an electric supercharger that would be easier to assemble and possibly more durable.

The explanation in the patent is highly technical and involves the assembly of the bearing that helps the turbo spin. Toyota’s idea uses a coil spring instead of plate springs. In addition to being easier to build, the new spring would apply more consistent pressure, which allows for better durability and higher performance when spinning at high speeds.
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MDarringer - 3/28/2017 10:38:30 PM

0 Boost

Are electric (motorized) turbos and superchargers truly either? Or if so, need they be? A device that jams air into an engine without the parasitic losses of a belt-driven supercharger or the heat generated by recycling exhaust gases to drive a turbo is a good thing. Toyota and Audi's work in this area are for all intents and purposes electric fans. I'm actually surprised this technology is not farther along.