Miata Mailing List: February 2000, Message #252

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From:	Joe Lorino <lorino@ibm.net>
Subject:	Re: has anyone heard of a hydrocharger?
Date:	Wed, 2 Feb 2000 11:29:32 -0500


As I recall, it is (or was) a small centrifugal supercharger,
specifically the impeller section of a turbo(super)charger,
driven by a hydraulic motor. I believe it required a step-up
gearset between the motor and the impeller so it could spin the
impeller fast enough. If the idea died on the vine, it must have
been due to the excess complexity of all this stuff plus the
hydraulic pump to drive the motor. It would have power losses
all over the place and be too inefficient. I think its only
advantage was that it could be located conveniently and away
from exhaust heat.

Joe Lorino
San Jose CA
'99 Emerald base