The Whipple BlowerA casual look at the Whipple supercharger might lead you to the conclusion that it is a Roots blower with a very high helix angle. Not so; it actually belongs to a class of compressor known as a screw compressor. To see how it works, take a look at the second illustration.First, imagine these two rotors housed in a case with an opening at the upper back, and a discharge at the lower front. Starting from the left, imagine that the groove on the righthand rotor is full of air. As the lobe of the lefthand rotor rotates into this groove (middle), it can be seen to close off any exit toward the back where the intake is. This traps air in the groove, and as further rotation takes place the air trapped in the groove gets pushed forward as per the right pair of rotors. This squeezing action to compress the air takes place very efficiently with figures rivaling that of a turbo. View Related Article
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