CONDITION MONITORING THROUGH OIL ANALYSIS USING

PARTICLE QUANTIFIER INDEX TECHNIQUE

Jasminder Singh Dureja and Harwinder Singh
Lecturer Department of Mechanical & Production Engg.
Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana
Jsdureja73@yahoo.com & harwin75@rediff.com

Abstract
Condition monitoring of machinery i the meaurement of variou
parameter related to the mechanical condition of machinery uch a
vi!ration, !earing temperature, oil preure , oil de!ri and performance,
"hich make it poi!le to determine "hether the machinery i in good
condition or !ad mechanical condition, then condition monitoring make it
poi!le to determine the caue of the pro!lem.
Condition monitoring i ued in con#unction "ith on $ condition
maintenance, i.e., maintenance of machinery "hen condition indicate
that a pro!lem i a!out to occur.
%n thi paper, a pecial "ear de!ri monitoring techni&ue ' (he Particle
)uantifier %nde*+ through oil analyi ha !een e*plained.
(hi techni&ue ha got a num!er of advantage over the conventional
"ear de!ri monitoring techni&ue vi,- ferrography, pectrocopy and
magnetic particle &uantifier inde*.(he concentration of "ear de!ri in
thee techni&ue are meaured "ith a pectrometer . (here i a
fundamental limitation to meauring the concentration of "ear de!ri "ith
thee techni&ue. .ecaue of the "ay that thee intrument "ork,
particle greater than / $ 01 2micron3 cannot !e detected. %t i o!viou
that a critical "ear ituation could e*it "ith large particle preent !ut the
iron concentration might !e lo", i.e. mot of the "ear particle are greater
than 01 in i,e and "ould not !e picked up !y the pectrometer. (he
techni&ue i.e. (he Particle )uantifier %nde*+ provide olution to thi
pro!lem.

THE PARTICLE QUANTIFIER INDEX :-
(he olution to the a!ove pro!lem "ould !e
to filter all the oil ample through a 01
mem!rane and e*amine any de!ri preent
"ith a microcope. (hi practice i highly
la!or intenive a it cannot !e automated,
!oth in term of preparing the mem!rane
and having omeone look through hundred
of de!ri pad. %n order to keep cot and
turn around time to a minimum "ithout
acrificing &uality, the P)% 2Particle
)uantifier %nde*3 i ued.
(he P)% i a !ulk magnetic inde* of the oil
ample. (he oil ample i haken and then
placed in an intrument that ue a
magnetic field "hich i ditur!ed !y any
ferrou 2magnetic3 material in the ample,
irrepective of i,e. (he e*tent to "hich the
magnetic field i ditur!ed i proportional to
the total ferromagnetic content of the oil.
(he P)% i a unit le num!er !ut it i
&uantitative and can !e trended. (he higher
the num!er, the more ferrou de!ri
preent. %f the P)% had unit, they "ould !e
related to the magnetic inductance of the
ample, pro!a!ly 4e!er per &uare
centimeter. 5ttempt have !een made to
correlate the inde* "ith an actual
concentration value uch a milligram of
iron per liter of oil !ut, !ecaue different
teel have different magnetic inductance,
thi ha met "ith limited ucce.
5lthough the P)% i a &uantitative
meaurement, the la!oratory ue it a a
creening tet. %f the P)% i over a certain
failure limit, the oil i filtered through a 6
mem!rane 2pad3 and any de!ri preent i
e*amined under a microcope. 5 &ualitative
decription of the de!ri i given in the
diagnoi.
(he failure limit depend on the type of
component from "hich the oil ha come. 5
an e*ample, a hydraulic ytem run far
more delicately and cleanly than a conveyor
gear!o* and "hat i accepta!le for the
gear!o* "ould indicate catatrophic "ear in
the hydraulic ytem. (he failure P)% for the
hydraulic ytem i 76, for the gear!o* 781.
(hee failure limit have !een determined
from correlation tudie of ten of
thouand of ample "here !oth a P)%
and an MPE 2Microcopic Particle
E*amination3 have !een carried out. (he
P)% of every oil ample i meaured and
appro*imately 719 of the ample fail the
creening tet. :f thee 719, roughly half
of the MPE carried out ho" no a!normal
"ear de!ri; thi ho" that the creening
limit are kept very tight.
5lthough the la!oratory ue the P) a a
creening tet, the diagnotic department
look at it in a &uantitative manner. 5
normal "ear profile 2ee Graph 03 hould
ho" a large num!er of mall "ear particle
and fe" large one. 5 a!normal "ear
tart to take place, thi profile "ill hift to a
greater num!er of larger "ear particle. %t i
poi!le for the iron reading to level out or
even decreae, !ecaue of the i,e
limitation and filtration, "hilt the P)% tart
to increae in an a!normal "ear ituation
2ee Graph 73.
Conclusion
(he P)% i a unit le no. proportional to
total ferromagnetic content of oil. <o"ever
!y etting up uita!le failure limit thi can
alo !e ued to give &ualitative decription
of the de!ri preent in oil.
%n the cae of non$magnetic "ear material
uch a "hite metal, aluminum or
copper=!ra=!ron,e, it i very unuual to
find a non$ferrou metal "earing againt
another non$ferrou metal. %ron and teel
tend to !e the ma#or "earing element in all
mechanical ytem. :ften, non$magnetic
material !ecome impacted "ith the ferrou
"ear de!ri during the "ear proce o
even non$magnetic material can !e
detected !y the P)%.
REFERENCES
0. Evns!"o#n S$, .. >c. %?=??3 4ear
check @ Condition Monitoring through
oil analyi, Technical Bulletins
produced by the Wear check Africa
2%ue 0A $ De!ri 5nalyi3
7. C#&'(o')*! S$+$ 20??13. 4ear De!ri
5nalyi $National Productivity Council,
Calcutta
8. N&'! ,$C. Condition Monitoring
(echni&ue 5nd 5pplication
Procedings of ITMMC , IIT !elhi"
B. S'ivs)v! Sus#il +u-' Industrial
Maintenance Manage#ent >.Chand &
>on, Calandhar. 0??/
Graph 1 Graph 2