Supercharger And intercooler Basics
In Volume 41 Number 3 of HOT BIKE, William Denish gave you the skinny on how superchargers and intercoolers work. Here's a quick recap. This ProCharger model is an intercooled centrifugal belt-driven supercharger that is mechanically driven off of the crankshaft to pressurize the entire induction tract above 14.7 psi (normal atmospheric pressure). So essentially it increases the pressure differential between the manifold and cylinder to create what is called charged air (greater mass of air than atmospheric pressure alone that flows into the cylinder). Since the supercharger is driven off of the crankshaft, boost is immediate and simultaneously increases as rpm increases. Boost is pressure above 14.7psi. So for example if you add 10psi of boost to the engine's induction system, the engine sees the sum of both for a total of 24.7psi.
An intercooler works to bring charged air (heated air) to a lower temperature when it enters the throttle body/carburetor. Cooler air is denser, contains more oxygen, and requires a lower level of fuel octane, which reduces the risk for potential detonation. Detonation is bad for your engine's components. Basically, as your blower shoots air into the engine it is temporarily suspended in the intercooler assembly, passing through a series of passages, cooling the temperature before the air then flows into the throttle body and into the engine.