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Downsizing and turbocharging with single or multiple stages has been one of the main solutions to decrease fuel consumption and harmful exhaust emissions, while keeping a sufficient power output. An accurate and reliable control-oriented compressor model can be very helpful during the development phase, as well as for engine calibration, control design, diagnostic purposes or observer design. A complete compressor model consisting of mass flow and efficiency models is developed and motivated. The proposed model is not only able to represent accurately the normal region measured in a compressor map but also it is capable to extrapolate to low compressor speeds. Moreover, the efficiency extrapolation is studied by analyzing the known problem with heat transfer from the hot turbine side, which introduces errors in the measurements done in standard gas stands.

1 In modern turbocharged engines the power output is strongly connected to the turbocharger speed, through the flow characteristics of the turbocharger. Turbo speed is therefore an important state for the engine operation, but it is usually not measured or controlled directly. Still the control system must ensure that the turbo speed does not exceed its maximum allowed value to prevent damaging the turbocharger. Having access to a turbo speed signal, preferably by a cheap and reliable estimation instead of a sensor, could be beneficial for over speed protection and supervision of the turbocharger. This paper proposes a turbo speed observer that only utilizes the conditions around the compressor and a model for the compressor map. These conditions are either measured or can be more easily estimated from available sensors compared the conditions on the turbine side.