Lubricant circulation diagnostic and modeling system
First Claim
1. A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated work-generating component, a filter in said circulation system filtering said lubricant, a combination of sensors operable for sensing a condition of said lubricant before and after passage through said filter and sensing said condition before and after passage through said component and providing an output indicative of a condition in said circulation system.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lubricant filtering and monitoring system and method is provided for a lubricant circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to a lubricated component. A combination of sensors senses a condition of the lubricant before and after passage through the filter and before and after passage through the component and provides an output indicative of a condition in the circulation system. A sensor senses a condition of lubricant flowing through the filter, and another sensor senses a condition of lubricant flowing through a reference section for comparison against and normalizing of the output of the first sensor. A method of actively monitoring the component is provided by comparing influent to the component with effluent from the component to ascertain how lubricant is being modified by the component, by sensing a condition of lubricant passing through the filter. An effective method is provided for determining when to change or clean the filter. A diagnostic method is provided for assisting in such determination and diagnosing lubricant condition, filter condition and component condition.
111 Citations
29 Claims
- 1. A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated work-generating component, a filter in said circulation system filtering said lubricant, a combination of sensors operable for sensing a condition of said lubricant before and after passage through said filter and sensing said condition before and after passage through said component and providing an output indicative of a condition in said circulation system.
- 12. A method of actively monitoring a lubricated work-generating component in a circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to said component, comprising comparing influent to said component with effluent from said component to ascertain how lubricant is modified by said component, by sensing a condition of said lubricant passing through said filter, providing a plurality of sensors and sensing a condition of said lubricant before and after passing through said filter and before and after passage through said component.
-
14. A method of actively monitoring a lubricated component in a circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to said component, comprising comparing influent to said component with effluent from said component to ascertain how lubricant is modified by said component, by sensing a condition of lubricant passing through said filter wherein said circulation system includes a first path passing lubricant from said filter to said component, and a second path passing lubricant from said component back to said filter, and comprising providing a first set of one or more sensors in said first path and sensing a condition of said lubricant after passage through said filter and before passage through said component, and providing a second set of one or more sensors in said second path and sensing a condition of said lubricant after passage through said component and before passage through said filter, modulating the flow of lubricant to said component to facilitate said sensing and testing of said active monitoring.
-
15. A method of using a lubricant filter as a sensor in a circulation system circulating lubricant through said filter to a lubricated work-generating component, comprising sensing a condition of lubricant passing through said filter with a first sensor, providing a reference section in said circulation system and sensing a condition of lubricant passing through said reference section with a second sensor, comparing the outputs of said first and second sensors and determining a given condition in said circulation system, and comprising:
-
a) sensing differential pressure DPr across said reference section; b) sensing differential pressure DPf across said filter; b) sensing differential pressure DPf across said filter; c) counting elapsed time T; d) determining a normalized differential pressure DPn according to the ratio of DPf to DPr e) determining if DPn is stable, 1) and if not, returning to steps a) through d) 2) and if so, then continuing with the following step; f) determining if DPn is above a given value high enough to allow contaminant concentration CONC to be calculated, 1) and if not, then monitoring DPn as a function of time and calculating remaining useful life RUL according to service interval minus T, 2) and if so, then a) calculating regression constants for a regression equation for DPn as a function of time, b) calculating CONC and RUL using the regression equation and DPn. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
-
- 18. A method for monitoring contamination in a lubricant circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to a lubricated component, comprising providing a combination of contaminant sensors sensing contamination of said lubricant before and after passage through said filter and before and after passage through said component, and evaluating the output of said sensors including comprising determination of gross contamination level of said lubricant, solids contamination, amplitude and frequency of excursions from said baseline, and noise due to operation of said component.
- 20. A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated work-generating component, a modulating device modulating lubricant circulation to provide a modulated condition, a sensor detecting said modulated condition a filter for removing contaminants from said lubricant, and means for forming a dynamic model from output from said sensor enabling diagnosis of the condition of the lubricant, filter and component.
- 28. A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated component, a modulating device modulating lubricant circulation to provide a modulated condition, a sensor detecting said modulating condition a filter for removing contaminants from said lubricant, and means for evaluating the output of said sensor utilizing an algorithm which performs frequency response analysis enabling diagnosis of the condition of the lubricant, filter and component.
Specification