Conekt: Novel Oil Condition Sensors

NOVEL OIL CONDITION SENSORS
Mr. Roger Hazelden, Mr. Kim Smith
TRW Conekt, UK Technical Centre, Stratford Road, Solihull, UK, B90 4GW

Abstract

With environmental concerns world-wide, there is increasing demand for ways to reduce the environmental impact of internal combustion engines and also to reduce operating costs. One way in which this can be achieved is by monitoring the quality of the lubricating oil so that it can be replaced only when necessary, rather than on a time or distance basis. This paper describes some of the different ways in which lubricating oil quality can be determined. This can be from electrical measurements such as conductivity and dielectric loss, from chemical measurements such as Total Acid Number (TAN) and Total Base Number (TBN), or from physical measurements such as viscosity. The TRW Conekt oil viscosity sensor is described as an example, this has the benefits of operating at a very high shear rate which is close to that experienced by the oil in a working engine. The optimum choice of sensing technique will depend on the type of engine and its duty, but it is clear that there are now a number of robust sensors coming on to the market which can be used.

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