A Simpler Explanation Of The Measurement Of ONE HORSE POWER
One horsepower equals 550 foot pounds (pound feet) per second. In high school, in physics class, I generated 1 horsepower by running up a flight of stairs. :) Housted
Forum Discussion
jharrell wrote:
Gas engines put out their rated peak horsepower in a relatively narrow range compared to an electric motor.
Correction, the horsepower band for a gas motor is typically wider than an electric motor.
It has to do with the fact that typical electric motors can generate peak HP from 0 to max RPM...the result is the higher the RPM, the higher the HP (sometimes at the top there are some oddities in the torque but they typically are outside normal operating ranges). The result is a linear increase in available HP as RPM increases.
On the other hand, typical gas engines (and diesel) start with relatively low torque and the torque increases as the RPM increases ...but as you near peak RPM, the torque often starts to drop off. The result is the actual HP being generated (not the rating) for a similarly rated engine starts lower but builds more quickly before dropping off around the peak RPM...
This results in a range of ideal RPM where you can produce peak (really near peak) HP for a particular engine. For an electric, peak is generally only at the peak RPM.
