The super charger is, basically an air compressor. Yes turbos are to but super chargers are different. Instead of being driven by the exhaust of the cars engine the super charger is driven mechanically by belts connected to the engine. It has the same principal though as the turbo, if you compress air you get to burn more fuel and get more power in the end.
One type of super charger is the centrifugal super charger which is easy to bolt on. It basically works like a turbo so it needs to wind up but once it gets going it cuts through the air. From this it doesn’t work well at low RPM.
Another type of super charger is the positive displacement super chargers which there are two main sub types. The first being the twin-screw sometimes called a lysholm. It moves the same amount of air per revolution no matter how fast the engine is spinning. This will allow you to get instantaneous and consistent boost the whole time. Inside the turbo charger you guessed it there are two big screws. One of them is female and the other male and the mesh together as they rotate. At the back of the supercharger there is an inlet to take in fresh air as the air moves through the female screw the air gets compressed until it reaches the intake for the engine.
The second kind of positive displacement super charger is the Roots type. One of the most popular types and you can see it in movies such as the Mad Max franchise. It was originally patented back in 1860 by philander and Francis Roots. It was originally built to ventilate blast furnaces in mine shafts until it was patented by Mercedes Benz and used in their kompressor model that went on sale in 1923. The Roots type has two identical screw shafts that mesh together to compress the air. They usually catch the air with some kind of scoop and then the air compresses as the two shafts push the air against the side walls. To cool the hot air there is some sort of water or liquid cooling device right below the super charger as the air is dumped right into the engine.
Beginner Mechanic 