Power density is the amount of
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
(time rate of
energy transfer
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...
) per unit
volume.
In
energy transformers including
batteries,
fuel cells, motors,
power supply units etc., power density refers to a volume, where it is often called volume power density, expressed as W/m
3.
In
reciprocating internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal c ...
s, power density (power per
swept volume
Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loose indicator of the ...
or
brake horsepower per cubic centimeter {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
Brake horsepower per cubic centimeter or (bhp/cc) is a figure of merit that is used to indicate the ' state of tune' of an internal combustion engine. It is defined as the ratio of the engine's n ...
) is an important metric, based on the ''internal'' capacity of the engine, not its external size.
Examples
See also
*
Surface power density
In physics and engineering, surface power density is power per unit area.
Applications
* The intensity of electromagnetic radiation can be expressed in W/m2. An example of such a quantity is the solar constant.
* Wind turbines are often compared ...
, energy per unit of area
*
Energy density, energy per unit volume
*
Specific energy, energy per unit mass
*
Power-to-weight ratio/specific power, power per unit mass
**
Specific absorption rate Specific absorption rate (SAR) is a measure of the rate at which energy is absorbed per unit mass by a human body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. It can also refer to absorption of other forms of energy by tissue, inc ...
(SAR)
References
Power (physics)
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