Method and apparatus for fluid quality sensing
First Claim
1. A fluid sensor comprising:
- a housing;
a support holding charged groups and being in the housing;
a first electrode and a second electrode in the housing and in contact with the support; and
at least one opening in the housing for admitting fluid into the housing.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the quality of a lubricant by its solvating effect on an insoluble (resin) matrix to which charged groups have been covalently bound. The solvating effects are measured electronically as a variation in conductivity or capacitance of the resin matrix with respect to temperature. The apparatus includes a metal mesh housing containing e.g. milligram amounts of charged resin beads. A metal probe is fitted in the containing mesh and makes contact only with the resin beads. The entire device is immersed in the lubricant and the electrical conductivity or capacitance is measured from the probe to the mesh through the resin beads. Lubricant degradation is measured as e.g. a decrease in electrical conductivity through the resin beads with respect to an increase in the lubricant'"'"'s solvent polarity.
83 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A fluid sensor comprising:
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a housing; a support holding charged groups and being in the housing; a first electrode and a second electrode in the housing and in contact with the support; and at least one opening in the housing for admitting fluid into the housing. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A drain plug fluid sensor comprising:
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a drain plug structure adapted to fitting in a drain hole of a fluid reservoir and defining a passage communicating with the reservoir; a housing extending from the drain plug structure and having an internal cavity connecting to the passage; a support holding charged groups and being in the internal cavity; and a first electrode and a second electrode in the internal cavity and in contact with the support.
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11. A method for measuring an electrical characteristic of a non-polar or weakly polar fluid, comprising the steps of:
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providing an ion-exchange resin material having a plurality of charged groups in clusters and having electro-chemical bridges between the charged groups in each cluster; circulating the non-polar or weakly polar fluid to contact the material; and measuring an electrical characteristic of the material while the fluid is circulating. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of determining a quality of a fluid, comprising the steps of:
- providing an insoluble support holding charged groups;
circulating the fluid to contact the support; and measuring a solvating effect on the charged groups of the fluid as a variation in an electrical characteristic of the support. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
- providing an insoluble support holding charged groups;
Specification