Machine condition monitoring using oil analysis is a predictive maintenance solution for industrial environments. An oil analysis program allows for reduction in unexpected failures and costly downtime for manufacturing components such as gears, pumps, compressors, engines, bearings, hydraulic systems, and other machinery.
An effective oil analysis program is key to maintaining the optimal health of your manufacturing assets.
These assets include the various pumps, gears, bearings, compressors, engines, hydraulic systems, and other oil-dependent machinery on which manufacturing processes rely.
Oil analysis programs are used to help maintain machinery health and optimize equipment operation.
At ProTech, we leverage our proven expertise in instrumentation development and our keen understanding of condition-based monitoring tools and practices. Whether your test is conducted in the field or in a lab, we deliver solutions that help protect your investments. In addition, our machinery health products each address specific situational needs common to a wide range of industrial applications.
Wear
Particle count - a high particle count or a rapid increase in particles can foreshadow an imminent failure.
Particle composition - it is often important to understand the elemental composition of particles in order to find out where they came from. Optical Emission Spectroscopy gives the user elemental information for up to 32 elements, from Li to Ce (varies with application).
Particle type - The size, shape and opacity of particles is used to determine if they are from cutting wear, sliding wear, fatigue wear, nonmetallic or fibers. This allows operators to determine the type of wear debris, wear mode and potential source from internal machinery components.
Ferrous wear - Ferrous wear measurement is a critical requirement for monitoring machine condition. The high sensitivity magnetometer measures and reports ferrous content in ppm/ml, and provides ferrous particle count and size distribution for large ferrous particles.
Chemistry
Total Acid Number (TAN) - TAN is measured to determine the corrosive potential of lubrication oils. If the TAN gets too high the oil can induce corrosion of machine parts and should be changed.
Viscosity - The main function of lubrication oil is to create and maintain a lubrication film between two moving metal surfaces. Insuring the viscosity is within recommended ranges is one of the most important tests one can run on lube oil.
Contamination
Water - Water contamination in industrial oils can cause severe issues with machinery components. The presence of water can alter the viscosity of a lubricant as well as cause chemical changes resulting in additive depletion and the formation of acids, sludge, and varnish.