Has anyone explored variable geometry turbos for our cars?

[marleyskater420]

I know porsche uses VGT turbos in their cars. I was just curious if any turbo manufacturer has explored VGT turbos for high performance applications.

I imagine the cost to benefit ratio is not worth exploring for smaller companies, but I have to wonder if some of the larger turbo manufacturers have tinkered with the idea.

 

[TTipe]

Buick had a "VGT" car (turbo Regal) during the time of the intercooled and alcohol cars.It was driven by a specific Motorola controller (experimental).The GMI student that did a lot of the work on the project has the project documented in his grad thesis.I know because I've read it.

 

[christians87]

Im curious to know about this one as well. I do know that Cummins and Ford are using vgt turbos on their new diesels. Not sure about the duramax, but wouldn't surprise me if they were.

 

[gnpoweredrail]

yes the Duramax has one as well

 

[turbobitt]

I've worked dyno testing VGT's on many HD diesel applications about 10 years ago. The control system and stratagy to make these work are complicated. The diesel industry used them to control emmisions more than performance. The VGT turbos gave the engine manufacture the ability to use cooled EGR to reduce emmisions and would not have been possible with conventional wastegated turbos.
Although we can argue that there would be some transient response gain with regards to spool, there is really no other real benifit. With todays ball bearing turbos, there is no need for this technology in the performance world.
Allan G.