Fixed radial inlet guide vanes configured to direct exhaust to a turbine

A turbocharger system comprising:

• a turbine housing;
• a turbine wheel within the turbine housing;
• and
• a fixed three-dimensional (3D) vane assembly positioned upstream of the turbine wheel, the fixed vane assembly comprising:
• a plurality of 3D airfoil vanes, each 3D airfoil vane having multiple cross-sectional layers stacked along the vane height;
• wherein the multiple cross-sectional layers have different cross-sectional airfoil shapes and are arranged with variable lean and sweep angles relative to each other;
• wherein the multiple cross-sectional layers have non-zero twist angles that vary along the vane height, and wherein the multiple cross-sectional layers have different chord lengths.

A turbocharger nozzle assembly, comprising:

• an inner platform;
• an outer platform;
• and
• a plurality of fixed three-dimensional (3D) vanes extending between the inner platform and the outer platform, each 3D vane having:
• a compound stacked 3D airfoil geometry comprising multiple cross-sectional layers between a hub end and a shroud end;
• a non-zero twist angle between -5 and +5 degrees that varies the orientation of the cross-sectional layers along the vane height;
• a positive lean angle between 0 and 10 degrees;
• and
• a negative sweep angle between 0 and -25 degrees;
• wherein the compound stacked 3D airfoil geometry provides efficiency improvements of at least 0.9 points across engine load conditions between 25% and 100% load on the turbocharger nozzle assembly.