With the new turbocharger for gasoline engines, Continental has successfully expanded its product portfolio – as proven by the extremely positive response to the award-winning 1.0-liter EcoBoost gasoline engine from Ford. In its first full month of sales, this highly efficient three-cylinder engine – which has been available in the Ford Focus since April – was ordered by almost a quarter of Ford Focus buyers in Europe, with this figure even reaching almost 30% in Germany and Great Britain. And the engine received the highest accolade at this year’s International Engine of the Year Awards. The jury comprising 76 motoring journalists from 35 countries voted the new Ford engine “International Engine of the Year 2012”, awarding it the highest ever score in this prestigious competition’s 13-year history. The experts also awarded this innovative three-cylinder engine first prize in the categories “Best New Engine” and “Best Engine Under 1.0 Liter”. This competition rewards the level of innovation in new engine developments and technology as well as aspects such as drivability, performance, economy and smooth running characteristics.
“We would like to congratulate Ford on this impressive achievement and we are of course delighted that our turbocharger with its completely new design has made such an important contribution”, said Udo Schwerdel, Head of Continental’s turbocharger product line. “Thanks to this highly cooperative and successful collaboration with Ford, we have designed a turbocharger that meets the technical challenges posed by small, downsized engines.” For the Ford Focus, the innovative 1-liter engine is available with two different power outputs (74 kW and 92 kW). From the fall onward, it will also be available in the new Ford B-MAX MPV. This year will also see its introduction in the Ford C-MAX/Grand C-MAX range.
The new turbocharger from Continental is characterized by its outstanding thermodynamics and the resulting high level of efficiency, both with regard to the turbines and compressors. “The optimized thermodynamics along with the minimization of moving masses and the resulting reduction in mass moment of inertia give our turbocharger superb response characteristics,” said Udo Schwerdel. In the exhaust flow, the turbocharger turbine rotates at speeds of up to 240,000 revolutions per minute – or 4,000 revolutions per second. A wastegate valve prevents the charge pressure from increasing excessively at high engine outputs, while a compressor-side diverter valve ensures that the already compressed air does not blow back into the compressor housing when the valve closes.
