Axial turbine with radial vnt vanes

Abstract

A turbocharger including a turbine wheel having a hub-to-tip ratio of no more than 60% and blades with a high turning angle, a turbine housing forming an inwardly spiraling primary-scroll passageway that significantly converges to produce highly accelerated airflow into the turbine at high circumferential angles, and a two-sided parallel compressor. The compressor and turbine each produce substantially no axial force, allowing the use of minimal axial thrust bearings.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A turbocharger configured to receive an exhaust gas stream from an engine, and to compress input air into a pressurized air stream, comprising:
 a housing including a turbine housing; and   a rotor configured to rotate within the housing along an axis of rotor rotation, the rotor including a turbine wheel, a compressor wheel, and a shaft extending along the axis of rotor rotation and connecting the turbine wheel to the compressor wheel, wherein the turbine wheel is an axial turbine wheel, and wherein the turbine housing forms an inwardly spiraling turbine primary-scroll passageway; and   a plurality of radial turbine vanes in the spiraling turbine primary-scroll passageway.