what does the Break mean in BHP?

BHP generaly means breaking horse power, what do you mean what does "break" mean?

 

it means the breaking as in deceleration.

I ve always understood it as 'Break Horse Power'

 

However if HP is a measurement of the engines power, what does it have to do with breaking?

horse power is acceleration power

 

break horse power is the opposite.

 

HP and BHP are measure in the same "HP" but are different, if ya see what i mean.

so essentially they are the same, a bit like how a in F=ma, means change in acceleration rather than just acceleration.

kinda, HP is acceleration BHP is deceleration.

but a car has the same BHP and Hp?

it does? are you sure? does that ALWAYs apply? or is it just a common trend?

 

maybe i was talking crap, i dont think so though!

oh bollocks,,, i WAS talking totaly and utter crap!

 

Brake horsepower. A measurement standard used by manufacturers to help consumers compare engines. NOTE: BHP is measured at the maximum operating RPM of the engine, which may not be the RPM level at which your engine will provide maximum life and consistent performance.

 

rpm = revolutions per minute

horsepower: a unit of power equal to 746 watts

so what DOES "brake" stand for in BHP?

 

BHP is to do with engine power, nothing to do with breaking or braking.

"Brake horse power, the net effective power of a prime mover, as a steam engine, water wheel, etc., in horse powers, as shown by a friction brake"

 

See: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=brake%20horse%20power

 

Also:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhp#bhp (Note: indication of reality, but worth reading)

 

Seems to be a measure of power which is actually measure instead of calculated and therefore takes resistance inside the engine into account...

 

Therefore the break is refering to the internal resistance of the engin, it seems.

It indicates the brake[/u'], the device for measuring the true power of the engine.

 

this doesnt sound like the normal brakes on a car, so i think the original question still stands.

 

[edit] ok that last line of klaynos's post was not there a second ago!

 

[edit2] its brake not break

I thought dictionary.com is not a technical resource?........

hey... you are the one who asked for a definition!

I thought dictionary.com is not a technical resource?........

 

It's not but it's the best I could do and still be fundementally lazy bhp is not a commonly used physical description of a power source, and it is therefore quite hard to find a technical resource which will refer to it with a definition :s

an now the new dragesters use "ponyshits" or PS a slang for a fraction (i cant remember what) of a Horsepower

no iwas joking, as 5614 pointed out Sayos sig earlier yesterday.

My understanding of it is that horsepower is all about work, and how much energy is used for a particular job, e.g. torqueing something up, or dragging something, etc. It's equivalent to force x distance.

 

Brake Horse Power is a measure of capability. I think its based on the amount of horses need to do the same work as the engine in the same time. To measure BHP we basically take an engine up to full speed, add some resistance (thus lowering the speed of the engine by torque), and equate the energy the engine is giving off by subtracting the work used on the load to the measurement at the opposite end.

 

One example would be to wrap a rope around a pulley being driven by an engine. One end would be trying to lift a weight the other would be measuring the weight. The difference between the two shows the work done by the energy.

 

Another is to have a clamp on a pulley driven by an engine under test, which is connected to some weights, the height the weights travel at a certain engine speed ( a bit like the biting point in the car, when the car starts to lift from the front), gives a BHP value.

 

Today they use a dynamo either directly connected via a flywheel or using "rolling roads" and add in transmission losses, to find the power given by the engine in BHP.

how horse power works:

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm