Water-cooling enables the use of the lightweight material and thus enables a significant weight reduction by nearly 30% while simultaneously providing cost and system benefits. First, much less effort is required to protect neighboring components from the heat. Second, cooling of the exhaust flow reduces the thermal load on the catalytic converter, meaning it hardly ages at all.
Continental launched series production of the first car turbocharger with an aluminium turbine housing; the press release is dated July 15, 2014 from Auburn Hills, Mich., and SAE reports that "Continental on July 15 announced the first turbocharger with an aluminum turbine housing to enter automotive series production"[1][2][3]
The first application is BMW's three-cylinder 1.5 L, 100 kW gasoline engine - 134 hp per SAE - used in the MINI Hatch / Mini 3-door; integration into that engine "has been ongoing since spring 2014"[1][2][3]
Wolfgang Breuer, Head of the Engine Systems business unit: "Aluminum in a turbocharger designed for cars is a real milestone." Continental's first turbocharger of any kind went into series production in a 1.0 L engine in 2011[1][3]
Notable features
Water cooling is what makes the lightweight material usable, giving a weight reduction of nearly 30% along with cost and system benefits; SAE puts the saving at 2.65 lb / 1.2 kg per turbocharger compared with a typical heat-resistant cast-steel housing, and Green Car Congress gives the same 1.2 kg (2.6 lbs) figure for the MINI unit[1][2][3]
A double-walled aluminium housing surrounds the hottest area with a cooling water jacket, keeping the external housing surface no hotter than 120 degC (248 degF) and the internal temperature below 350 degC (662 degF)[1][3]
Udo Schwerdel, Head of the Turbocharger Product Line, Engine Systems, Powertrain Division, gives two benefits: much less effort is needed to protect neighbouring components from the heat, and cooling the exhaust flow reduces the thermal load on the catalytic converter, "meaning it hardly ages at all" - SAE frames the same point as increased catalyst durability. The dynamic response of the electric actuator at the wastegate still lets the catalytic converter heat up quickly[1][2][3]
Despite the extra expenditure for water cooling, the aluminium turbochargers are more affordable for manufacturers; Schwerdel: "High-temperature-resistant materials such as nickel-base alloys drive up prices for turbochargers with steel housings, whereas our aluminum alloy is a cost-effective material"[1]
The turbocharger was developed from a typical add-on component into an integral part of the engine, tightly integrated as a fixed component of the exhaust manifold under BMW's modular principle, with Continental working with the BMW Group from the simulation phase onward; steel-housing Continental turbochargers can also be attached to the same base engine through the cylinder-head interface, an option used for high-performance engines and vehicles exported to hot countries[1][2][3]
The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.
SAE.org's own headline, "Continental debuts first production aluminum turbocharger housing," backs the pin's claim as a respected engineering trade publication, though the page served only a loading shell and its article text could not be retrieved to quote directly.
prnewswire.com· Published Jul 15, 2014· 0% of score
PR Newswire's press release states Continental "has launched series production of the first car turbocharger with an aluminum turbine housing," published 15 July 2014, squarely within the pin's stored 14-16 July 2014 window, and matches the ~30% weight reduction claim in the pin description.
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