In this post of mine i will be explaining about the concept of Torque and Bhp in the I.C. Engines.
Most of the times we come across some general terms in the advertisments like BHP or TORQUE… but most of the common masses dont have the knowledge about it.
Coming to Dynamics in the Physics..there are two terms Horse Power (HP) and Torque.Both these terms are quite different in its own way.
Horse Power:-
It is used to measure rate of work done i.e. power.It can be understood in a better way as it is the amount of work done by a horse in a given span of time(1hr or …).
Coming to the I.C. engines horse power is the theoretical measure of the power output of the engine.But there is another term called BHP for practical output of the engine.
BHP stands for brake horse power. It is the actual power output of the engine which is somewhat less than the theoretical output as there is some loss due to friction, pressure, temperature in between various parts if I.C. engine. Higher the BHP, more is the top speed of the engine.
Torque:-
Torque is defined as it is the force which is responsible for the rotating motion of the body.
mathematically it can be expressed as
T=Force*Perpendicular Distance.
Relating this with I.C. engine..it is the pulling capacity of the engine.It determines the angular acceleration of the wheel.Higher the torque more is the load pulling capacity.
Heavy vehicles like trucks,buses, tractors have very high torque count on very low engine rpm so that they can pull more load.Bikes generally have low grunt torque and mid range torque more compared to the high range torque.
Now coming to torque@rpm.
always we see torque is accompanied by its rpm eg: 20nm@7000rpm etc.
Here 7000rpm signifies that the maximum torque(20nm) will be produced by the engine is at 7000rpm after that it remains constant..which means we need to change the gear of the vehicle or else it is just wastage of fuel without an increase in power.
Thats why changing gear at the right time plays an inportant role in the power, mileage and over all performance of the vehicle.
So if you want heavy duty vehicle for carrying load then go for more torque of if you are a speed freak then more BHP along with more high end torque.
Hope you found it useful…further suggestions will be apprciated.
Signing Off
MD.AFZAL ANSARI
3rd sem MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
BANGALORE.