[CNred]

I know BHP is break horse power. but what does it mean. is it horse power measured at the flywheel, the crank or at the wheels? or is it something totally differnet then that. i have just been seeing it alot and i have no idea what it means. Thanks.

[scooperman_uk]

Quote: Originally Posted by CNred

I know BHP is break horse power. but what does it mean. is it horse power measured at the flywheel, the crank or at the wheels? or is it something totally differnet then that. i have just been seeing it alot and i have no idea what it means. Thanks.

im sure that some petrol heads are going to dispute this.

IMHO most BHP is calculated at the wheels (usually dynos) , some facilities offer removal of wheels and attachment directly to the wheel hubs.

[Raify]

'Brake Horse Power' comes from mining, where horses were used to drag loads up mine shafts.

This explains it better than I could:

Quote:

One of the terms which crops up all the time during discussions about machinery is Horse Power. Horse Power is the term we use to compare the work a machine can do in a certain period of time compared to the work a horse can do in the same time. This is of course very simplistic, and technically the term horsepower is the accomplishment of 33,000 ft. lbs. of work in one minute. For example, if you lift 33,000 lbs. of weight from ground level to one foot about ground level in one minute you have achieved the work of one horse. Of course it could be 3,300 lbs. lifted through 10 feet in one minute and so on. To put it metric terms 1 HP is to lift 1100 kg 33 centimetres in one minute.
HP can also be expressed in terms of Watts, there are 746 watts to one HP.

The Horse Power of an engine is usually expressed as Brake Horse Power which is a measure of power delivered at the crank and available to do work for the operator. Occasionally the term Indicated Horse Power may come up, this is the theoretical amount of power produced by the engine based on cylinder size and amount of fuel burned (or steam pressure in a steam engine). An engine consumes a certain amount of the power it produces to carry it through to the cycle to the next point of power production. If the Indicated Horse Power of an engine is 10 HP, and it takes 3 HP to drive the engine itself then the Brake Horse Power is 7 HP.

[stillthewhizz]

A measurement of the actual usable power (not calculated power) measured at the output shaft (usually the crankshaft) rather than at the driveshaft or the wheels. Thus none of the auxiliaries (gearbox, generator, alternator, differential, water pump, etc.) are attached. It is called the brake horsepower because the shaft power is usually measured by an absorption dynamometer or "brake." This is not the brake on the vehicle's wheels but a testing device applied to the shaft. This instrument is applied to stop or absorb the rotation of the output shaft and returns a value.