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The turbo-compounding has been extensively researched as a mean of improving the overall thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine. Many of the studies aiming to optimize the turbo-compounding system lead to the unified conclusion that this approach is more suitable for the operation under constant high load condition, while it has little effect on improving the fuel economy under low load conditions. Besides, in a traditional series turbo-compounding engine, the increased back pressure unavoidably results in a serious parasitic load to the system by increasing the resistance to the scavenging process. In order to improve this situation, a novel turbo-compounding arrangement has been proposed, in which the turbocharger was replaced by a continuously variable transmission (CVT) coupled supercharger (CVT superchargedr) to supply sufficient air mass flow rate to the engine at lower engine speeds.

Throttling loss of downsized gasoline engines is significantly smaller than that of naturally aspirated counterparts. However, even the extremely downsized gasoline engine can still suffer a relatively large throttling loss when operating under part load conditions. Various de-throttling concepts have been proposed recently, such as using a FGT or VGT turbine on the intake as a de-throttling mechanism or applying valve throttling to control the charge airflow. Although they all can adjust the mass air flow without a throttle in regular use, an extra component or complicated control strategies have to be adopted. This paper will, for the first time, propose a de-throttling concept in a twin-charged gasoline engine with minimum modification of the existing system. The research engine model which this paper is based on is a 60% downsized 2.0L four cylinder gasoline demonstrator engine with both a supercharger and turbocharger on the intake.

After years of study and improvement, turbochargers in passenger cars now generally have very high efficiency. This is advantageous, but on the other hand, due to their high efficiency, only a small portion of the exhaust energy is needed for compressing the intake air, which means further utilization of waste heat is restricted. From this point of view, a turbo-compounding arrangement has significant advantage over a turbocharger in converting exhaust energy as it is immune to the upper power demand limit of the compressor. However, with the power turbine being located in series with the main turbine, power losses are incurred due to the higher back pressure which increases the pumping losses. This paper evaluates the effectiveness that the turbo-compounding arrangement has on a 2.0 litres gasoline engine and seeks to draw a conclusion on whether the produced power is sufficient to offset the increased pumping work.