Oil Condition Sensor

[KJaeger]

Hi,
I'm a student working on a project concerning oil.
I was just curious if any of the heavy equipment you use has any sort of oil condition sensor? Such as when to change the oil based on actual condition of the oil or contaminants found in the oil.

I was also curious, if you didn't have an oil condition sensor if it made you feel a bit uneasy about when to change the oil?

Furthermore, would you find it useful to have a sensor to tell you the condition of the oil rather than just changing the oil on a regular basis?

Would you find it useful to know what contaminants are found in the oil such as what metal flakes are present?

And finally would you find it useful to be able to monitor the condition of the engine oil in real time so that you can see how different conditions have affected the oil and its life span?

Any responses would really be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[PoorMansCat]

Hi,
I'm a student working on a project concerning oil.
I was just curious if any of the heavy equipment you use has any sort of oil condition sensor? Such as when to change the oil based on actual condition of the oil or contaminants found in the oil.

I was also curious, if you didn't have an oil condition sensor if it made you feel a bit uneasy about when to change the oil?

Furthermore, would you find it useful to have a sensor to tell you the condition of the oil rather than just changing the oil on a regular basis?

Would you find it useful to know what contaminants are found in the oil such as what metal flakes are present?

And finally would you find it useful to be able to monitor the condition of the engine oil in real time so that you can see how different conditions have affected the oil and its life span?

Any responses would really be appreciated.
Thank you

Personally, I would not want anything like that on a tractor... Many newer vehicles come with oil life monitors and many are completely dependent on less that perfect information. Futher more, how can an oil life monitor know the difference between a cheap off brand dino oil and a top of the line synthetic? The additional electronics would add costs to initial purchase price of a tractor.

For many people such as myself, there is a lack of trust in oil life monitors and we would rather change oil at our own intervals.

No doubt, when the CUT market has to adapt for the new emissions requirements, there will be many more electronics... Im sure oil life monitors will show up..

 

[Craig Clayton]

The dollar value of the machine is a variable as to monitoring the oil condition. Most equipment of value is checked by oil analysis and changed on a regular basis.

Craig Clayton

 

[20 20]

The oil condition sensors are a scam{on the newer vehicles} The one I have on our vehicle goes off of mileage not oil condition even though it claims it does. Sight, smell proper maintanece and if real concerned have a test done. All this BS tech is making things worse not better. The more switches, senors, bells and whistles that keep getting added just makes more room for error. On the bright side it keeps the companies and mechanics rolling in the dough.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The closest thing I have seen is on airplanes with jet or turbine engines. We have what is called a "chip detector". Its basically a magnet that picks up metal particles in the oil and sets off a indicator light.

Chris

 

[jonyyuma]

All the high dollar engines around our business is protected by oil analysis. It will even tell if you have bearing material in the sample, and an up-coming failure. Plus it tell if the oil is being changed too often or not enough. Personally, I don't like paying $29.00 to find out.If Important to me it gets synthetic oil and a very good filter.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hi,
I'm a student working on a project concerning oil.
I was just curious if any of the heavy equipment you use has any sort of oil condition sensor? Such as when to change the oil based on actual condition of the oil or contaminants found in the oil.

I was also curious, if you didn't have an oil condition sensor if it made you feel a bit uneasy about when to change the oil?

Furthermore, would you find it useful to have a sensor to tell you the condition of the oil rather than just changing the oil on a regular basis?

Would you find it useful to know what contaminants are found in the oil such as what metal flakes are present?

And finally would you find it useful to be able to monitor the condition of the engine oil in real time so that you can see how different conditions have affected the oil and its life span?

Any responses would really be appreciated.
Thank you

The only accurate measurement of oil condition that I am aware of is to draw an oil sample and send it into a specialized lab for analysis. The labs can find elemental traces of wearing materials and certain compounds that indicate how much additional life is left in the lube oil and recommend oil change intervals and when heavy maintenance will be required. It's my understanding that most of these recommendations are based on empirical information about wear and oll capability. Large truck fleets do this. I doubt there is/are a comprehensive sensor(s) available to provide adequate information about oil condition in real time or at some limiing ammount of contamination. If there were, than with the microprocessor capability available tody, I'm sure system could be designed to provide data about oil condition and wear. It would require multiple separate systems for tractors; the engine lube oil and the hydraulic /trnasmission and final drive oils

I worked in the aircraft industry, and the engines have "chip detectors" on them to monitor bearing deterioration but they depended on actual bearing wear particles bridging a gap on a magnetic "plug" to indicate an impending problem. Oil was generally changed on an FAA approved maintenance schedule tailored to each operator's unique circumstances.

 

[KJaeger]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I'm actually working on a sensor that should be able to determine the oil quality based on the electrical properties of the oil and thus its overall viscosity and a few other factors. Hopefully further down the road and with alot of time and effort I hope to be able to make the sensor so that it can actually distinguish the difference in the metal flakes found in the oil and thus determine where wear is occurring most like described in the post regarding the airplane turbine engines. Any more feedback about the idea would be greatly appreciated. Over if you would like some more information please let me know and I'll try to provide as much as I can.
Thanks again

 

[dodge man]

It's a good idea. I can see it being put on large heavy equipment first, then larger farm equipment. I own a smaller tractor, and if I use a high end oil, it still only cost $20 to change the oil, so I don't see it paying on a machine like mine.

 

[SunnyJim]

There are similar products on the market like Intellistick If you notice the cost and capability of the unit as a system it is targeted at fleet and industrial use.

There are also hand held units that operate on dielectric constant like the SKF OilCheck TMEH 1, Lubricant Analyzer. For a short time a smaller less costly version was initially offered to the public under the name Oilyzer. They had a number of manufaturing and quality control issues during the product launch last year. I did receive 1 of the initial units for testing.