Test unit for rapid OA at engine side

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Hi all,

First post here and hopefully in the right place of the forum.

I would appreciate a little feedback on an idea/invention a buddy and I are working on for rapid oil analysis at the engine side. It’s a small battery operated and handheld unit that requires just a drop of oil, off the dipstick for example, but in under a minute would give an accurate read on:

[*] Kinematic Viscosity (at 40 deg C only and converted into centistokes)
[*] BN
[*] Particles (Total particle counts and a size distribution)
[*] Ferrography – (looks at the shape, colour, size etc. of particles to determine mechanisms of wear)
[*] Soot loading
[*] Water (ppm)
[*] Fuel dilution
[*] Oil dispersancy
[*] Glycol contamination

NB: It will not give the elemental compositions that you see on laboratory OA reports.

The unit pairs with a smartphone or tablet to do the data analysis and display the data. Because it is rapid and needs just a drop of oil, the idea is to test regularly and trend monitor parameters of the oil/engine as they change overtime.

We are working on this mostly for aviation, in particular to test for internal corrosion in rarely used engines, and hope to use this as a post flight check to trend monitor the engine condition. It will never be as accurate or precise as laboratory OA, but with trend monitoring changes in parameters overtime are clear and you see a nice trend of the parameters with oil usage.

I would love to get some feedback if you think it solves problems in other areas. Similarly, if we can produce this thing and retail it at around $400 - $600 range, would you want this in your workshop/garage?

Thanks for reading, would appreciate some feedback.

Anthony
 
I suggest you do some research, as there are many portable devices already available (although not that run off a smartphone and your price point seems reasonable)

start here.

Without elemental analysis, you are only getting part of the picture so it would be better if you could figure out a way to include that as well.
 
Send one here, and I'll give it a full write up...

I'd probably buy one at that price, and functionality.
 
Shannow, are you saying that used_0il should send you a book of matches and a spoon?
wink.gif
 
Why not...I've got enough business cards through recent job changes to blotter test for the next decade.

Book matches are a rarity down here.
 
Originally Posted By: Solarent
Without elemental analysis, you are only getting part of the picture so it would be better if you could figure out a way to include that as well.


You don't ask for much do you ..... Compact a whole lab into a small unit for a few hundred $, then you may give it a look
grin.gif


Thanks for your input though Solarent and I am aware of Spectro, they probably lead the field in desktop analysis, but with costs orders of magnitude greater than what we've made.

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Send one here, and I'll give it a full write up...


Thanks Shannow, but its a bird nest of wires and optics and I dare not breathe to close to it for fear it'll break! Like I said, its just a prototype that we are working on for our own curiosity, I was just wondering if other people were interested in condition monitoring of their engines and if so what they would use it for.

Cheers,
AB
 
What's your target market?

If its industrial field testing, you might be in with a shout.

I't really doesn't make sense for private individuals (apart from BITOG members, who tend to be a bit mad) at that price point. BITOG oil obsessives are probably too much of a niche market.

There have been cheaper gadgets (Lubricheck) aimed more squarely at the consumer market in the past, but I don't think they've been very successful, even at a price of around $40.

(I had a URL but it seems to be dead)

The gadget is/was claimed to measure a combination of dielectric constant and resistance.

Changes in these parameters tend roughly to correlate with changes in dielectric constant, so (with many but not all oils) you can allegedly use this as a rough proxy index of oil quality. I've seen some independent peer-reviewed-journal research that seems to support this.

Comment from people who tried it (or its Oilyzer predecessor) is generally guardedly positive, but some units were unreliable, its vulnerable to cross contamination if the electrode isn't thoroughly cleaned (I'd probably use alcohol but they don't suggest that AFAIK), and it apparently doesn't work with the additive packages of some oils.

Few punters, even on BIITOG, have "control" data from conventional oil analysis, to compare it to, and it doesn't give direct numerical output of the parameter its measuring, but an LED "quality index".

Assuming it sort-of-works, I'd guess the marketing problem they still have is that an oil change really isn't THAT expensive, so better-safe-than-sorry is likely to prevail, and therefore most people wouldn't save any money by using one.
 
Still exists, apparently, though its $50 now

http://www.lubricheck.com/

There are a few past threads on it, but it doesn't seem to have been adopted by many BITOGers.

Perhaps it doesn't give enough info. It certainly gives much less than you are hoping for.
 
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