Lubricating oil debris monitoring system
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for monitoring the quantity of ferrous particulate debris in oil and hydraulic fluid systems comprising:
- a magnetic sensor including a magnetic field to attract and capture a plurality of ferrous particles and a pulse generating means which generates a pulse to signal the capture and mass of said particles;
a preamplifier to amplify said pulses operatively connected to said sensor;
signal conditioning means to evaluate said amplified pulses and provide output signals which are a function of the mass of said particles, operatively connected to said preamplifier; and
display means operatively connected to said conditioning means to provide an audio/visual output of said proportionate signals.
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Abstract
An electromagnetic system is provided to capture ferrous particles in a circulating fluid medium and provide analog and digital data which relate both to the mass of any significant individual particles captured and the total mass of such particles accumulated in a given time for subsequent retrieval. A periodic self checking capability is also included to determine if the system is functioning normally.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring the quantity of ferrous particulate debris in oil and hydraulic fluid systems comprising:
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a magnetic sensor including a magnetic field to attract and capture a plurality of ferrous particles and a pulse generating means which generates a pulse to signal the capture and mass of said particles; a preamplifier to amplify said pulses operatively connected to said sensor; signal conditioning means to evaluate said amplified pulses and provide output signals which are a function of the mass of said particles, operatively connected to said preamplifier; and display means operatively connected to said conditioning means to provide an audio/visual output of said proportionate signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. The method of detecting and analyzing ferrous particles in a circulating lubricating oil system comprising:
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capturing the particles by a magnet; generating pulses in a coupled concentric coil around said magnet as said paricles are drawn towards a capture plate on top of said magnet; amplifying said pulses, measuring their amplitude and discriminating said pulses to only pass signals from said particles which are indicative of abnormal wear; triggering an alarm when a mass of any given particles is over a preset limit; converting the analog amplitudes of said discriminated pulses to equivalent digital values, and accumulating said digital values to provide a digital signal equal to the total mass of abnormal particles which have been captured; and displaying the value of said total mass of abnormal particles to an operator for corrective action if necessary.
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Specification