Hydraulic Flow Limit from Drive Power
The most flow a power unit can deliver at a working pressure for a given drive horsepower.
Example
You enter
- Available drive horsepower (HP) 13.7278
- Working pressure (psi) 2000
- Overall pump efficiency (0-1) 0.85
You get
- Max flow 10.0 gpm
Checked against published worked examples from: Hydra-Tech Pumps.
Details, formula, and sources
Scopegpm = 1714 x drive_hp x efficiency / psi. A 13.7 HP drive at 2,000 psi and 0.85 efficiency moves 10 GPM; raise the pressure to 3,000 psi and it drops to 6.7 GPM (flow trades against pressure at fixed power). Answers 'how much flow can this motor drive' instead of the HP for one flow. A power ceiling, not the pump's rated flow. The pump and motor data govern.
Formula or tablegpm = 1714 x drive_hp x efficiency / psi; the inverse of drive_hp = (gpm x psi / 1714) / efficiency.
Source and editionThe fluid-power pump horsepower relation (fluid HP = gpm x psi / 1714) solved for flow, by name.
Free accessThe gpm-psi-to-horsepower relation and the 1714 constant are standard published fluid-power results.
What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
API field namesdrive_hp, psi, efficiency, max_gpm
- Constant-power trade flow varies inversely with pressure at fixed drive power (gpm = 1714 x drive_hp x eff / psi)fluid-power engineering
- Overall efficiency the fraction of drive power reaching the fluid; 0.80-0.90 gear/vane, higher for pistonfluid-power engineering
- Power ceiling the delivered flow is set by the pump displacement and rpm; this is the max the motor can supportscope of this tile