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Variable Turbine Geometry

Variable Turbine Geometry (VTG) uses movable vanes in the turbine housing to optimize exhaust flow and reduce turbo lag at low engine speeds. At low rpm, the vanes partially close to accelerate exhaust towards the turbine. At high rpm, the vanes fully open to take advantage of stronger exhaust flow. While commonly used in diesel engines, VTG is less common in gasoline engines due to higher exhaust temperatures around 950°C. In 2006, BorgWarner developed a VTG turbocharger for the Porsche 911 Turbo using aerospace-derived heat-resistant materials, opening the possibility of mass-producing VTG turbochargers for gasoline engines.

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Rowan Cornelius
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201 views2 pages

Variable Turbine Geometry

Variable Turbine Geometry (VTG) uses movable vanes in the turbine housing to optimize exhaust flow and reduce turbo lag at low engine speeds. At low rpm, the vanes partially close to accelerate exhaust towards the turbine. At high rpm, the vanes fully open to take advantage of stronger exhaust flow. While commonly used in diesel engines, VTG is less common in gasoline engines due to higher exhaust temperatures around 950°C. In 2006, BorgWarner developed a VTG turbocharger for the Porsche 911 Turbo using aerospace-derived heat-resistant materials, opening the possibility of mass-producing VTG turbochargers for gasoline engines.

Uploaded by

Rowan Cornelius
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Variable Turbine Geometry (VTG)

Variable Turbine Geometry technology is commonly used in turbo diesel engines in recent
years. It is primarily used to reduce turbo lag at low engine speed, but it is also used to introduce
EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) to reduce emission in diesel engines. Here, we concentrate on
the former advantage.

Ordinary turbochargers cannot escape from turbo lag because at low engine rpm the exhaust gas
flow is not strong enough to push the turbine quickly. This problem is especially serious to
modern diesel engines, because they tend to use big turbo to compensate for their lack of
efficiency.

A Variable Geometry Turbocharger is capable to alter the direction of exhaust flow to optimize
turbine response. It incorporates many movable vanes in the turbine housing to guide the exhaust
flow towards the turbine. An actuator can adjust the angle of these vanes; in turn vary the angle
of exhaust flow.
Look at the following illustration:

At low rpm:

The vanes are partially closed, reducing the area hence accelerating the exhaust gas towards the turbine.
Moreover, the exhaust flow hits the turbine blades at right angle. Both makes the turbine spins faster.
At high rpm:

At high rpm the exhaust flow is strong enough. The vanes are fully opened to take advantage of the high
exhaust flow. This also releases the exhaust pressure in the turbocharger, saving the need of waste gate.

VTG on gasoline engines

Although VTG technology is extensively used in diesel engines; it is very much ignored in gasoline
engines. This is because the exhaust gas of gasoline engines could reach up to 950°C, versus 700-
800°C in diesel engines. Ordinary materials and constructions are difficult to withstand such temperature
reliably.

In 1989, Honda produced a handful of Legend Wing Turbo, which employed a variable geometry
turbocharger developed by itself. Its variable vanes ("wings") were made of a special heat-resisting alloy,
Inconel. Nevertheless, the experimental production run was never followed by mass production. In the
next one and a half decade Honda simply gave up turbo charging in all its petrol cars.

In the same 1989, Garrett produced a VTG turbocharger for use in the limited production Shelby CSX, a
car derived from Dodge Shadow. However, only 500 cars were produced. Neither Chrysler group nor any
other car makers would follow its footprints.

As compression ratio increases, modern gasoline engines have exhaust temperature higher and higher.
Experts estimated it could exceed 1000°C in the foreseeing future. Perhaps this is why VTG technology
for gasoline engines never went into mass production.

In 2006, BorgWarner finally developed a VTG turbocharger for use in Porsche 911 (997) Turbo. Both
firms refused to reveal the technical details, but said it employed "temperature-resistant materials derived
from aerospace technology". Hopefully the technology breakthrough will finally bring VTG turbochargers
into mass production gasoline engines.

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