Performance Chips

In this article I will tell you about different products that use the common name "performance chips". I will be focusing mostly on power chips and supercharger chips due to their wide usage.
The name "power chip" pretty much speaks for itself – it is boosting the power of the vehicle or more precisely – this is a device that is calibrating the engine using some software. It is made to optimize the efficiency of your engine. Its original idea was to be used in car racing but today it is available for many car models and customers all over the world are using these devices to take the most of their engines.
When installed to your engine system the power chip will get data from the electronic control unit of your vehicle (ECU). This data will be analyzed by the chip software and special settings will be applied to your engine. This simple idea made possible for quick decisions to be taken by the software of the power chip. The final result is optimal settings of the engine for all situations made as you drive without a need for your interference in this process. All you need to do is setup the chip and drive.
One nice example of a power chip is the "Jet import ECU upgrade kit" available for BMW 650i. The good thing about this specific unit is that it applies settings for the full power band and not just for full throttle. This is very important because if you get some graphs on your driving you will see that the full throttle is usually not the biggest part of your driving experience. Your car needs different settings for the whole range of usage – from the moment you power the engine to the moment you stop it.
The superchargers are the other aspect of the performance chips I would like to cover. The supercharger is a system that provides forced induction to the engine using an air compressor. Generally there are two types of supercharger systems: positive-displacement and dynamic compressors. The main difference between them is that the positive-displacement system provides almost a constant boost regardless of the RPM (the current speed of the engine). On the other hand – the dynamic compressor will measure the RPM and with the increasing of the RPM the boost will also increase.
There is also another term that is commonly used and it’s called "turbochargers". The difference is that the turbochargers are driven by the exhaust gases and more precisely – the pressure that they provide. In some cases turbochargers are more efficient than the superchargers but this differs in the different situations.
You can find a lot of data regarding many supercharger units on the web and the markets and I will not give examples or try to cover all of them. However I would like to say a few words about some of the terms that you may need to know.
The first one is the boost. Boost is the amount of pressure that is provided by the supercharger. The values you will see are usually in psi (pounds per square inch).
You will also see a lot of abbreviations in the specifications you will read. Things like PD1, VT1, VT2, TS, etc. PD stays for Powerdyne. It is non-intercooled and also – not in production any more. VT means Vortech and it’s also a non-intercooled system. TS stays for Lysholm TwinScrew systems. TS2 is with Laminova liquid inter-cooling and TS3 is with Laminova liquid inter-cooling too but it also has upgraded engine internals.
With all these abbreviations and specifications it’s sometimes hard to find your way to the system you need but if you do you won’t regret spending all the money on it.