Summary
When choosing a hard-core SUV, off-road vehicle, or pickup truck, you will be faced with many questions: Is it better to choose the gasoline version or the more powerful diesel version? And choose naturally aspirated for peace of mind or turbocharged to experience high performance? This article will explain in detail the advantages of turbocharging compared to naturally aspirated and the ways, advantages, and disadvantages of diesel engines to save fuel.
What changes has turbocharging technology brought?
Do you think that the combustion is sufficient when the car is hot, but not fully during the hot phase of cold start? I believe most people have this view. In theory, this description is wrong, because the power stroke time of an internal combustion engine in a hot car state, whether a gasoline engine or a diesel engine, is very short, and the high-speed period only lasts for tens of milliseconds. Neither can be fully burned. The mixed oil and gas inside the cylinder cannot fully carry out chemical reactions in a short period, but it is just more ideal than when the car is cold.
How can we increase the combustion speed of the engine to reduce wasted fuel and increase the power of the vehicle? That is to increase the speed of fuel response. Oxygen-enriched combustion is the basis for increasing the reaction speed of fuel. The so-called oxygen-enriched combustion means that the oxygen concentration of the air entering the cylinder and reacting with the fuel is very high, at least the oxygen concentration of the air is higher than the standard atmospheric pressure. Oxygen is the catalyst for the fuel reaction. The combustion speed of a fixed amount of fuel reacting with low oxygen concentration air will be relatively slow, and conversely, the combustion speed of a fixed amount of fuel reacting with air with high oxygen concentration will speed up.
Assuming a comparison between 2.0L and 2.0T, the naturally aspirated engine inhales the same oxygen concentration standard as the air breathed in, which is 20.94% oxygen at 0 altitude. The higher the altitude, the lower the oxygen concentration. The 2.0T uses a turbocharger to compress the air entering the engine. The oxygen concentration may increase by a few percentage points. Will the combustion speed be accelerated? Referring to the figure below, the combustion flame temperatures of different oxygen concentrations vary greatly.
This is the core factor why turbocharging technology can make small and medium-displacement engines have greater torque than medium- and large-displacement engines. Turbocharging technology improves performance by reducing waste and improving fuel utilization.
What is the difference between gasoline engine oil and diesel engine oil?
It is known that diesel engines are more fuel-efficient, but how do they save fuel? First of all, the basis of fuel saving is the advantages of diesel itself. The flame temperature of diesel combustion can reach 1800°C, which is 600°C higher than that of gasoline. This is enough to show that during the reaction process of the same amount of diesel, stronger "piston driving force" and torque will be produced. Naturally, there will be more advantages.
If a gasoline engine wants to have the same maximum torque as a diesel engine under the premise of having the same displacement, the method is to further increase the oxygen concentration of the intake air and further increase the combustion speed to compensate for the shortcomings of the gasoline itself.
During heavy-load towing or rapid acceleration, it will run in a low-speed gear and high-speed state. The diesel engine has a standard of 2000 times at best, but the gasoline engine can rise to 3500 times with high throttle. The diesel engine with the same displacement does 1500 times less work per minute. The fuel consumption will be much lower. This is only the difference between turbochargers and naturally aspirated engines.
To sum up, the turbocharger can achieve the power and torque of a large-displacement engine with a small displacement, and can maintain the peak torque in the speed range, so it can not only achieve the ideal power experience but also achieve the purpose of fuel-saving.
Excellent off-road vehicles and pickup trucks all use turbochargers, and well-known off-road vehicles and off-road RV brands are no exception, such as 2.0T Wrangler, 4.0T·G500, 2.0T·Tank 300, 3.5T-F150 Raptor. It can be seen that turbocharging technology has long been mainstream, and the service life of turbochargers is also very ideal. The superchargers of passenger trucks that travel hundreds of thousands of kilometers per year are still very durable. Naturally, aspirated engines are only low-cost products.
Summarize
If you want an off-road model with off-road capabilities and fuel economy, diesel power is the ideal option. On the other hand, if you want both ideal off-road capabilities and ideal acceleration capabilities on paved roads, a gasoline supercharger is the best option.
At this point, we can conclude that naturally aspirated technology is very backward, and turbocharging technology is more advanced.
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