Cast? Billet? MFS? FMW...a look into turbo compressor wheels!

Ever wondered what the bare bones differences were between compressor wheel material types? Whats the skinny on different machining tool paths? Here is my short-ish explanation on this topic. Enjoy -Reed
#workturbo #workturbochargers #turbotechthursday @workturbo

[@ben7020]

Thanks for explaining about the different cnc milling, i didn't know that ;)

[@abdullaalameri90]

Superb info. Info that can not be found easily. The single take was smooth

[@aw11roman]

Fantastic description - thanks very much for the video

[@alj2264]

The last will you put on the scale had extended tips Extended tips makes a difference The extended tips increases the centrifugal pressure of the wheel An increase the overall performance of the wheel ...

[@WagenDas]

Thank you for the video. Great information, very helpful!

[@Normansgarage]

Loving the videos Reed! Keep them up! Stuff noone goes over! Maybe at some point go over benefit of 6+6 vs 7+7 plus full bladed wheels??

[@workturbo]

That is one I will cover in depth soon!

[@blankblank3397]

I bought a billet wheel in house turbo from a shop in FL For my semi about 2 yrs ago. I'm gonna pop off the boot or housing and see what wheel they used. I had a turbo from bullydog company b4 and it did ok. Biggest difference with the billet is it doesn't fall off as fast while pulling a grade and I usually have to let out bc my egt starts to creep up if I'm not at a high psi. If I can keep her at 30 psi then she's happy. They rated it 600 to 650hp I believe for diesel and 1200 gas

[@learysinsight9617]

Hey Reed would a heavier wheels be better on a ball bearing journal? Awesome video by the way.

[@workturbo]

Obviously heavier rotor groups will put more stress on the bearing structure, but it is the actual thrust loading from the compressor wheel trying to pull itself out of the housing and the turbine wheel trying to push itself out on the other side that causes the issues. In a perfect world the turbo would have zero thrust load if the push/pull dynamic of the two wheels would equal out! Might do a video explaining this one day ;)

[@lukedougherty7078]

Since the SX-E line came out is there a better compressor wheel option out there? As in like a drop in wheel?

[@workturbo]

Depending on the series turbocharger, we offer our own engineered compressor wheels that can out perform the standard SX series cast wheels, SXE series forged milled wheels and the latest SXR wheel designs from BW in specific applications. But the SXE is hard to beat for its cost and power potential right out of the box! Reed

[@lukedougherty7078]

@@workturbo Gotcha I was curious I have aSX-E 66/74 .91 housing on my 6.0 just interested if there was a better flow option out there

[@lukedougherty7078]

@@workturbo so..... No ?

[@workturbo]

@@lukedougherty7078 Yes, my apologies for the belated response. I have a drop in wheel available that will pick up a small amount of flow. We are working on our current generation aero for the S300 that will pick up quite a bit more power...but being a small shop money is always the reason it cannot happen faster. The current wheel has made almost 89#/min of flow, compared to the 87#/min BorgWarner rates the SXE 66mm at. So you will clean up a bit more fuel with this wheel geometry. We actually designed this wheel before the SXE was released, so it is a bit dated but works "ok". The new generation is what we use in our L5P Duramax Aero, and it will move closer to 91#/min. So that wheel will be a nice upgrade once it becomes available. We will do the 72mm and 69mm sizes first in SXE as they are our bigger sellers. The 66 will be later this year, most likely.

[@lukedougherty7078]

@@workturbo That's awesome to hear I'm at a point with the truck where I could keep my housing a drop in a 369 but was worried about spool up over the flow gains. Right now it really starts to light at 2000rpm with the stock converter stall which makes sense it'll build some boost down lower but can start getting pretty hazy so any flow I would think would help with that EGTs are reasonable in 8-900 degree range under a mild acceleration but will get into around 1100 when the converter locks. I suppose I could run a reduced fuel tune but it's a single cab 2wd shorty so it's too much fun to roll into it at 35 and break em loose

[@bkryeltayeb1862]

cloud you talk about the Effects of residual riblets of impeller's hub surface on aerodynamic performance of centrifugal compressors?? can we manufacture the impeller without it? and what the differences?

[@workturbo]

We have a more complex wheel program that has finer resolution/blade geometry with virtually no visible tool path. The difference in machine time/cost is quite a bit, but the performance is also improved. Machine time on that wheel can approach 10-12 hours!

[@codydillenbeck4443]

@@workturbo whats a better design, straight blades or the curved blades? I've noticed certain manufactuerers use the curved style over the straight.

[@workturbo]

@@codydillenbeck4443 There is way more to it than the initial appearance of the blades. We could take a well engineered straight bladed wheel and easily out perform a poorly designed curved blade wheel, and vice versa. Also worthy to note, most curve blade wheels from the OE are designed to control the sound of the turbo just as much as the performance. Sound fatigue is a real thing when operating a truck or piece of equipment for 12 hours a day...so they want it to be quiet. Also worth noting, most of the time a quiet compressor is a more efficient compressor, so it will make more power. Last thing I will touch on...as manufacturing processes get better and better, the wheel shapes will get more defined. For my current blade designs, we have found a straight bladed inducer with our developed blade progression from inducer to exducer works best for our turbochargers price point and performance goals, however a much more complex blade design is coming for our premium units, and it does have a curved primary blade. Hope this helps shed some light on the subject!

[@codydillenbeck4443]

@@workturbo how much does blade count, whether it be all tall blades or a splitter style, affect response and airflow? From my understanding the 11 blade full length is better for high pressure ratios and arent all too great at lower pressure ratios and then a 6+6 is better for lower pressure ratios and bad at high pressure ratios. The thing i have an issue with is finding compressor maps for different wheel styles.

[@workturbo]

@@codydillenbeck4443 Thanks for the questions, they are really good ones. In its simplest form, you are correct in your understanding of a "+0" splitter type wheel (all blades same height), but their performance also ultimately relies on the design of the blades themselves. It is possible to create a very high pressure ratio wheel with a "splitter" and a low blade count, especially if we are talking about a smaller compressor wheel size, and vice versa. To thoroughly answer your questions will take a bit of time and space, as it gets very detailed. I am going to produce a video explaining this in the future, so stay tuned! -Reed