Efficiency calculator
Efficiency is how much of the power going in comes out as useful work. Pick what you want to find, enter the other two, and choose watts, kilowatts or horsepower for each (1 hp = 746 W, the electrical horsepower on motor plates).
Potencia real (watts) de entrada y de salida. 1 hp = 746 W. En una carga de CA, los volt-amperes no son watts — use primero el factor de potencia para obtener los watts.
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How it works
- η = out ÷ in × 100efficiency, %
- in = out ÷ (η ÷ 100)input needed
- out = in × (η ÷ 100)output you get
Efficiency is a percentage like any other: the part (output) over the whole (input). Everything has to be in the same unit first, which is why the calculator converts kW and hp to watts before it divides. Losses are simply input minus output.
Worked examples
A 10 hp motor at 90 %
- Output at the shaft: 10 × 746 = 7,460 W.
- Input needed: 7,460 ÷ 0.90 = 8,289 W ≈ 8.29 kW.
- Losses: 8,289 − 7,460 = 829 W of heat the frame and fan have to shed.
A power supply
- Measured 250 W in, rated 200 W out at full load.
- Efficiency: 200 ÷ 250 × 100 = 80 %.
- Losses: 250 − 200 = 50 W — about what a small soldering iron puts out.
Preguntas frecuentes
Where does the lost power go?
Almost all of it becomes heat — in a motor’s windings, iron and bearings, in a transformer’s core and coils, in a power supply’s electronics. That is why an inefficient machine runs hot, and why the losses figure here is worth knowing: it is the heat something has to get rid of.
Is a motor’s horsepower the input or the output?
The output — the mechanical power at the shaft. The electrical power it draws is more than that, by its efficiency. A 10 hp motor at 90 % efficiency draws about 8.29 kW of real power at full load. The current that works out to also depends on the voltage, the phases and the power factor.
Can efficiency be over 100 %?
No. Output can never be more than input; if your numbers say otherwise, one of them is wrong — a nameplate figure read in the wrong unit, or an input measured as volt-amps instead of watts. The calculator flags it.
Ver también
- Trade math refresher — the lesson behind this tool.
- Magnetism and motors — the lesson behind this tool.
- Percent in the trade — the arithmetic behind the percentage.
- Reading a motor nameplate — where the hp and efficiency come from.
- Calculadora de ley de Ohm y potencia
- Power triangle & power factor calculator
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