Is the F56 Cooper SD twin turbo?
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I'm not sure BMW even knows what "twinpower" means. :x
They advertise it as such on the 3-cyl Cooper, which is a single-scroll single turbo. Maybe "twinpower" is "turbo plus something else like Valvetronic"? The 4-cyl petrol MINI's are twin-scroll single turbo.
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If I remember right they use the Twinpower Turbo term to describe the fact that the engines are Turbocharged and direct Injection...........IMO a totally misleading and meaningless description probably dreamt up by marketing dept.
Remember the good old days when cars had Twincam and 16 Valve splashed all over:laugh:
Remember the good old days when cars had Twincam and 16 Valve splashed all over:laugh:
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This is correct, Twin power is officially turbo and HPDI according to MINI UK
Learnt this from a training course today. Shocking how many people in dealerships have been saying twin power is twin turbo.
Though BMW claim the same engine (same power) in the 2 series Active Tourer is twin-scroll. But then maybe the marketing department don't know either.....
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The "Twinpower" turbo is quite straight forward.
Generally in a twin turbo you would have both a low pressure and high pressure turbo. High pressure turbos give you the push you're looking for, but but they result in "turbo lag" (you hit the pedal and it takes a second or two to spin up and start shoving the air through. A low pressure turbo provides a fill in for the lag, so you hit the gas, the low pressure turbo kicks in, starts ramping the fuel/air mixture into the chamber, then the high pressure turbo catches up and takes over - no (or little) turbo lag.
The twin scroll turbo design starts off as a low pressure turbo, then the fans rotate to basically become a high pressure turbo. So, you get both turbos but in one housing.
At least that's my understanding of how it works.
Generally in a twin turbo you would have both a low pressure and high pressure turbo. High pressure turbos give you the push you're looking for, but but they result in "turbo lag" (you hit the pedal and it takes a second or two to spin up and start shoving the air through. A low pressure turbo provides a fill in for the lag, so you hit the gas, the low pressure turbo kicks in, starts ramping the fuel/air mixture into the chamber, then the high pressure turbo catches up and takes over - no (or little) turbo lag.
The twin scroll turbo design starts off as a low pressure turbo, then the fans rotate to basically become a high pressure turbo. So, you get both turbos but in one housing.
At least that's my understanding of how it works.
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Jester I think you missed the part that "twinpower" is marketing speak, and the MINI's only have 1 turbo. 0
What you described was kind of like what the Mk4 Supra and FD Rx-7 had with their sequential turbo setups, which were a catastrophe. In retrospect, they were far over-complicated. Modern sequential turbo setups like M-B's twin-turbo Diesel are much simpler and more efficient to boot.
Back in the MINI, on the even-number-cylinder engines, they have twin-scroll turbos. This means two exhaust gas paths cast into the one turbine housing. Cylinders 1 and 4 feed one scroll, and cylinders 2 and 3 feed the other scroll. This keeps conflicting pulse timings separate and dramatically improves the efficiency of the turbine.
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Twin-scroll turbine's have been around for decades, but only recently have the OEM's started adopting them into small turbo frames.
What you described was kind of like what the Mk4 Supra and FD Rx-7 had with their sequential turbo setups, which were a catastrophe. In retrospect, they were far over-complicated. Modern sequential turbo setups like M-B's twin-turbo Diesel are much simpler and more efficient to boot.Back in the MINI, on the even-number-cylinder engines, they have twin-scroll turbos. This means two exhaust gas paths cast into the one turbine housing. Cylinders 1 and 4 feed one scroll, and cylinders 2 and 3 feed the other scroll. This keeps conflicting pulse timings separate and dramatically improves the efficiency of the turbine.
Twin-scroll turbine's have been around for decades, but only recently have the OEM's started adopting them into small turbo frames.
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Well you learn something new every day. I was told (and I'm desperately trying to remember who by) that the the actual fins on the turbo moved to act as both a low and high pressure turbo.
Thanks for the information. I know that some VAG engines now have both a Supercharger & Turbo (FS engines?). That seems like a good idea.
Thanks for the information. I know that some VAG engines now have both a Supercharger & Turbo (FS engines?). That seems like a good idea.
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Oops sorry for misspelling your screen-name in the last post.
The turbo you're describing is indeed a thing. Variable Nozzle Turbines [aka VNT] or Variable Geometry Turbines [VGT] are de-facto on Diesel turbo's; it's how they regulate boost pressure. Porsche also uses them on their 911 Turbo [gasoline] to effectively vary the A/R, but they're the only OEM put them in a production gasoline engine to date, as far as I'm aware.
Yup, VAG did a Twincharged engine a big ago. At the time the idea was they could get the instant low-end torque of a supercharger and the top-end pull of a turbo. It was a decent idea at the time, but perhaps ironically I did a twincharged setup [a couple companies gave it a shot at the time] on an R53 MINI Cooper S before VAG released their production engine! This was before small twin-scroll's were common on turbo GDI engines where you could get fantastically low boost thresholds like the B-family engines in the current MINI's and a broad torque plateau.
The turbo you're describing is indeed a thing. Variable Nozzle Turbines [aka VNT] or Variable Geometry Turbines [VGT] are de-facto on Diesel turbo's; it's how they regulate boost pressure. Porsche also uses them on their 911 Turbo [gasoline] to effectively vary the A/R, but they're the only OEM put them in a production gasoline engine to date, as far as I'm aware.
Yup, VAG did a Twincharged engine a big ago. At the time the idea was they could get the instant low-end torque of a supercharger and the top-end pull of a turbo. It was a decent idea at the time, but perhaps ironically I did a twincharged setup [a couple companies gave it a shot at the time] on an R53 MINI Cooper S before VAG released their production engine! This was before small twin-scroll's were common on turbo GDI engines where you could get fantastically low boost thresholds like the B-family engines in the current MINI's and a broad torque plateau.
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