How to Calculate Horsepower from Diesel Engine Power?
3 Answers
Diesel engine power of 1kw equals 1.36 horsepower, and you can determine the engine's horsepower using this formula. Here is an extended introduction: 1. Introduction to power: Power is an important performance parameter of an engine. The greater the power, the stronger the engine's performance, and the higher the fuel consumption of the engine. 2. Increasing the power of a diesel engine: Use turbocharging technology. Many automotive diesel engines utilize turbocharging technology. Turbocharging technology can increase the engine's air intake without increasing the engine's displacement. The engine uses a mixture of air and fuel as its fuel. If the air intake is increased and the fuel injection is correspondingly increased, then the amount of fuel in the cylinder can be increased.
I often encountered this issue when repairing tractor engines before. Actually, converting diesel engine power to horsepower is quite simple. Just multiply the kilowatt value by 1.36 to get the metric horsepower (PS). For example, a 50kW diesel engine equals 68 PS. The imperial horsepower (HP) is slightly more complicated, requiring multiplication by 1.34. In practical use, I've noticed that engine nameplates often list two parameters: one for maximum output power and another for continuous working power. I remember during a test, using a tachometer along with a torque meter, first multiplying torque by speed and then dividing by the constant 9549 to get the kilowatt value, and then converting it to horsepower was more accurate. For regular car owners, simply checking the kW value on the vehicle documents and doing a quick mental calculation is sufficient, especially since many car specification sheets now directly list the horsepower value. Note that the nominal power usually refers to the value at rated speed, and horsepower will decrease at lower speeds.
Once when helping a friend choose a pickup truck, I specifically researched this conversion relationship. The most commonly used units for calculating diesel engine horsepower are PS and HP. The metric horsepower (PS) calculation is straightforward—just multiply the kilowatt value by 1.36. The engine nameplate parameter table usually lists the maximum power in kW and the corresponding RPM. For example, seeing 100 kW means approximately 136 horsepower. The imperial horsepower (HP) is less commonly used and requires multiplying by 1.34. Through testing, we found that for diesel engines of the same displacement, turbocharged models can have over 20% more horsepower than naturally aspirated ones. Nowadays, new car manuals clearly state these figures, and if you're unsure, you can download a car app to automatically convert the units. However, note that manufacturers provide net power test data, which must be measured under standard conditions.
