Hansen Engine to Present Innovative New Supercharger Technology Alongside Automotive Heavyweights

Hansen Engine Corporation has been quietly developing an innovative automotive technology from its modest but modern engine test laboratory in the western suburbs of Minneapolis.

On April 4-6, the Company will find itself among the heavyweights of the automotive industry during the SAE World Congress in Detroit, which attracts more than 11,000 attendees. Hansen Engine Corporation and Ford Motor Company engineers have been invited to present an SAE peer-reviewed “Technical Paper” discussing Hansen’s groundbreaking new supercharger technology.

Hansen’s globally patented technology with its innovative use of a “variable-displacement” feature is unique and provides improved system efficiency over current fixed-displacement superchargers. Traditionally, both superchargers and turbochargers have been used to boost engine performance. However, superchargers have not been able to compete with turbochargers due to their fuel efficiency penalty. Hansen Engine’s new technology eliminates the biggest disadvantage of current superchargers by enhancing fuel economy while maintaining superior acceleration. As a result, the new technology could challenge the $13 billion engine boost market now dominated by turbochargers.

“After more than a decade of determined work and innovation, we have conceived and developed an advanced variable-displacement supercharger that combines both excellent performance and improved fuel efficiency,” said Robert D. Hansen, Chairman and CEO of Hansen Engine Corporation. “That is what’s exciting for engineers and the industry. What it would ultimately mean for car buyers is a continuation of engine downsizing resulting in progressively smaller yet powerful and efficient engines.”

The engineers from Ford and Hansen will present a peer-reviewed “Technical Paper” at 11 a.m. on April 5 at the Event, which has been branded “WCX17: SAE World Congress Experience” and will be held at the Cobo Center in Detroit. The following day, the Company will present a less formal introduction on the new Hansen Supercharger™ technology at 1 p.m. in the Event’s “Learning Lab.”

“We’re very excited to be able to bring this technology out of the lab and present it at the premiere auto engineering event,” said Hansen. “It is also an honor for a small firm from Minnesota to be able to showcase something that can attract the industry’s attention and could have a worldwide impact on the future of engine design and production.”

About Hansen Engine Corporation

Hansen Engine was incorporated by brothers Craig and Robert Hansen as an independent research laboratory that is dedicated to the advancement of automotive engine technologies. It has maintained its principal operations in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Hansen Engine Corporation has developed and patented a variable-displacement mechanically-driven supercharger to enable cost-effective engine downsizing with equal or better fuel economy than exhaust-driven turbocharging. It does so without “turbo-lag” or expensive auxiliary drives to reduce turbo-lag. This advancement is made possible by its variable-displacement feature, which eliminates conventional supercharger inefficiency during the frequent “partial boost” drive cycle conditions.

This system supplies varying amounts of pressured air as required to meet driver demands of an engine very efficiently across the full range of engine loads and speeds. This unique capability provides fuel economy improvements which are achieved by employing a “downsized” engine of three or four cylinders, thereby offering a competitive alternative to six or eight cylinder engines.

The Hansen Supercharger™ system provides a practical and cost-effective single-device boost system for which the instant throttle response and improved drivability characteristics of superchargers are no longer handicapped by the fuel economy penalty of conventional superchargers relative to turbochargers.

The engineering staff believes that the new Hansen Supercharger™ will present a challenge to current industry reliance upon turbochargers.

[A portion of the early-testing of our technology was performed on a one-cylinder diesel engine. The testing was supported by the U.S. Army-TACOM under Small Business Innovation Research Phase I and II contracts (W56HZV04C0152 and W56HZV04C0676). This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the Government.]