Supercharger with continuously variable drive system

A combustion system comprising:

• a control system comprising a processor, a memory, an algorithm stored in the memory, and control electronics;
• a supercharger comprising an air inlet, an air outlet, and a drive shaft, the supercharger configured to move air from the air inlet to the air outlet, the supercharger having an operating range from an idled condition up to a maximum rotations per minute (RPM) of the drive shaft;
• an engine comprising combustion chambers configured to receive air from the outlet of the supercharger, the engine further comprising an associated crank shaft, the engine having an engine operating range from an idled condition up to a maximum RPM of the crank shaft, the engine having a plurality of airflow demands for each RPM in the engine operating range for providing peak torque output;
• and
• a continuously variable transmission (CVT) connected to the control system and further connected to the drive shaft for transmitting a variable amount of rotational energy to the supercharger,
• wherein, for a selected drive shaft RPM, the control system selects one of the plurality of airflow demands based on received operating conditions and controls the transmitting of the CVT to provide rotational energy to the supercharger to move a quantity of air meeting the selected one of the plurality of airflow demands.

A computer program product comprising a tangible storage medium and a program stored on the storage medium, the program, when executed by a processor connected to a vehicle control system, for performing a method comprising:

• receiving sensor data indicating operating conditions of a vehicle;
• receiving engine data indicating a rotations per minute (RPM) of a crank shaft of an engine of the vehicle;
• processing the received sensor data and the received engine data to determine a control signal for controlling a continuously variable transmission (CVT) of the vehicle;
• transmitting the control signal to the CVT, the CVT connected to a drive shaft of a supercharger, the supercharger connected to move air to the engine such that the moved air equals engine airflow demand for outputting peak torque in response to the operating conditions;
• and
• adjusting the transmitted control signal as the received sensor data varies such that a crank shaft RPM corresponds to a plurality of different control signals to satisfy airflow demands based on variations in the operating conditions.