Automotive Industry Trend Turbocharger Industry Overview

Today, the trend of domestic small-displacement engines has become increasingly apparent. Turbocharging is becoming a technology that major OEMs have to adopt. Even Japanese companies that insist on naturally aspirating are now fully deploying small-capacity turbocharged engines. So, we often say that the turbocharger is how to make small-displacement engines have a performance close to or even exceed the performance of large-displacement engines, Gasgoo Institute hereby comprehensive analysis.

First of all, the turbocharger is located in the engine intake and exhaust system, which increases the intake air volume by compressing the air. At work, it uses the inertial impulse of the exhaust gas emitted by the engine to propel the turbine in the turbine chamber, thereby driving the coaxial impeller, which in turn pressurizes the air and pressurizes it into the cylinder.

Under the background that the country requires an average fuel consumption of domestically produced passenger cars of 5.0L/100km in 2020, the research and development of energy-saving technologies and their cost are a major challenge for vehicle manufacturers. The current trend is that the main models of turbochargers emphasizing the advantages of low emissions and high power. In the external environment, strict emissions and fuel consumption standards are important factors in promoting turbocharger development.

The main role of turbocharging is to increase the amount of engine air intake, thereby increasing engine power and torque. Gasgoo Motors found that turbocharging technology can improve fuel efficiency by nearly 20% and can reduce the overall size of the engine without sacrificing power, thereby reducing quality and cost.

In the above diagram, we have listed the main components of the turbocharger. The main production processes are casting, numerical control machining, etc. There is still a significant gap between China and foreign countries in the production and testing equipment of key components, which restricts the China's turbocharger development. The Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute's proposal for turbocharger companies in China is that in terms of turbine impellers, China should adopt two advanced metal injection molding and electromagnetic casting technologies; in terms of rotors, it should further enhance the stability of machine tools; On the other hand, it should improve automation and test technology innovation. Therefore, improving the level of manufacturing equipment has become an important measure for domestic companies to increase their competitiveness.

In terms of advanced materials, due to the high turbine speed and high operating temperature, the requirements for bearings are high. With ball bearings instead of floating bearings, the total booster efficiency can be increased by 5%-7%. Turbocharger new materials are mainly titanium alloys and ceramic materials, they have good heat resistance, can significantly improve the performance of the engine.

It is worth mentioning that the future trend of turbochargers is electronic boost technology. Electronic boost is to use motor instead of exhaust to promote turbine rotation, which can eliminate turbo turbulence that is prevalent in turbocharger because of motor control. More accurate. The electronic supercharger is currently not widely used because the electronic booster needs voltage support, but now the 12V voltage on the vehicle is insufficient to meet the demand of the electronic supercharger.

It is understood that the Audi SQ7 is equipped with an electric turbocharger from Valeo Valeo, which is currently in volume production and is equipped with a 48V system. The V8 engine equipped with the SQ7 relies on an electric turbocharger at a low speed, and the high speed relies on a conventional exhaust gas turbocharger, which basically solves the problem of turbo lag.

In terms of market structure, the global supercharger market includes Honeywell, BorgWarner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and IHI. They have established wholly-owned or joint ventures in China, accounting for approximately 95% of the Chinese passenger vehicle market. market share.

In comparison, domestic companies still have significant differences with the above-mentioned international giants in terms of capacity scale, R&D strength, and management. At present, Ningbo Fengwo, Kangyue Technology, Hunan Tianyan, Weifang Fuyuan, Hansen Technology and other domestic brand companies are also working hard to upgrade their R&D strengths, breaking the international giants’ market for high-end supercharger and gasoline engine supercharger market. monopoly.

According to Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute, with the increase in market size in recent years, the penetration rate of passenger vehicle turbochargers in China has increased from 22% in 2013 to 32% in 2016, reaching 7.65 million units. Gasgoo Automotive Research Institute predicts that the turbocharged penetration rate will reach 48% in 2020, based on the country's demand for an average passenger car consumption of 5.0L/100km by 2020.

Turbocharger suppliers such as Honeywell, the main supporting customers include Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Peugeot, Renault, Nissan, etc.; BorgWarner main supporting customers are Alfa Romeo, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Peugeot , Nissan, Renault, Ford, etc.; domestic suppliers such as Hansen Technology major supporting customers include SAIC, Chery, etc.; for more information on the supply chain of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the supply chain, please scan the QR code below.