Measuring and testing – Liquid analysis or analysis of the suspension of solids in a... – Content or effect of a constituent of a liquid mixture
Patent
1993-05-27
1998-06-02
Nguyen, Vinh P.
Measuring and testing
Liquid analysis or analysis of the suspension of solids in a...
Content or effect of a constituent of a liquid mixture
73 6171, 324453, 324 714, G01N 2760
Patent
active
057602980
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to the monitoring of debris in a fluid. The invention has particular application to the monitoring of debris in a fluid system such as for example a lubricating system or a cooling system but is not limited to such applications.
In a moving fluid system unwanted debris in the form of say discrete particles may become suspended in the fluid. For example in an engine lubricating system swarf and other particles produced by wear and tear during the running of the engine will be picked up by the lubricating oil and be carried around the engine by the oil. This is undesirable because the debris can contribute to further wear of the engine thereby reducing the life of the engine. Clearly it is desirable to be able to monitor the debris in the oil in order to determine when the debris content of the oil becomes unacceptable.
Many different methods of monitoring debris in a fluid have been proposed and used. For example, one or several filters of different grades are inserted into a fluid carrying conduit and are removed from time to time for inspection and cleaning. Another approach is simply to draw off a sample of fluid which may be inspected for debris immediately or taken away for subsequent analysis. A further method relies on the insertion of magnetic plugs in the body of the conduit. As ferrous debris passes a plug it is attracted by the magnet and "sticks" to the plug. The plugs can be removed from time to time to enable inspection of the debris stuck thereto and cleaning thereof.
Whilst these approaches usually enable satisfactory debris monitoring to be performed they all suffer from limitations. The methods are generally intrusive and in certain situations, where for example a steady and relatively turbulent-free flow is required, are therefore unusable. Many methods also require periodic inspection to obtain a measure of the debris content and thus cannot be used to provide continuous monitoring of the debris. That is to say many of the known methods are unable to provide a real time reading of the debris content of a moving fluid.
The present invention aims to overcome the above discussed and associated disadvantages and limitations.
It is known to measure the total volume flow of a fluid from the teachings of, for example, British Patent No. GB-A-1,392,926. This British patent discloses a method and apparatus for on-line measurement of fluid flow in which two pairs of electrodes spaced apart in a fluid stream are energised so that a polarizing current passes between the electrode elements of each pair. The polarizing current causes conductivity disturbances in the fluid which disturbances are detected by the two electrode pairs and analysed by cross correlation to derive a measurement of the volume flow of the fluid. Clearly this arrangement has its disadvantages. For example, in order for the polarizing current to cause disturbances in the fluid, the fluid must be an electrolyte. Furthermore, the conductivity disturbances will be in the form of gas bubbles in the fluid and such bubbles will be unacceptable in many circumstances.
Australian Patent Application No. AU-A-41176/72 discloses an arrangement by which the flow rate of a fluid can be measured by detecting electrostatic charge in the fluid and analysing the thus detected charge by cross correlation to determine the flow rate of the fluid.
In one aspect the present invention resides in the realisation that debris carried by a fluid will have an electrostatic charge associated with it and that by detecting this electrostatic charge it is possible to monitor a fluid for debris.
Thus, one aspect of the present invention provides a method of monitoring debris in a fluid, in which method electrostatic charge associated with the fluid is detected and a signal representative thereof is processed to provide information relating to the electrostatic charge associated with the debris. In the practice of this aspect of the invention signals representing electrostatic charge are obtained from at least two different locations in a pat
REFERENCES:
patent: 3636763 (1972-01-01), Beck
Fisher Celia Elizabeth
Forfitt Roy
Nguyen Vinh P.
Solis Jose M.
Stewart Hughes Ltd.
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