System and method for determining a lubricant discard interval

• US 8,977,421 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2014
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Afton Chemical Corporation
• Original Assignee: Afton Chemical Corporation
• Inventors: Dvorak, Todd M., Dittmeier, Robert T., Szemenyei, Dewey P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Badii, Behrang
• Assistant Examiner(s): TESTARDI, DAVID A
• Application Number:
  US14/448,168
• Publication Number:
  US 20140343786A1
• Time in Patent Office: 222 Days
• Field of Search: 701/29.5
• US Class Current: 701/29.5
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 11/10 Indicating devices; Other safety devices
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/14 for indicating the necessity to change the oil
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/1426 by considering distance
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/1446 by considering pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/1466 by considering quantity of soot
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/1473 by considering temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F01M 2011/1486 by considering duration of operation
• CPC Class Codes: F16N 2260/18 necessity of changing oil
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/2888 Lubricating oil characteristics, e.g. deterioration lubricating properties G01N33/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

A system, a method and a computer program to determine the usability of a lubricant such as, e.g., engine oil, and when to replace the lubricant in a particular engine. The system, method, and computer program are further configured to generate a lubricant discard interval for each engine in, e.g., a company'"'"'s fleet of vehicles. The system, method, and computer program are configured to generate lubricant discard interval schedule for each of the vehicles in the company'"'"'s fleet based on the lubricant discard intervals.

Claims

1. A processor-based system for predicting a lubricant drain interval in an engine based on a plurality of analysis parameter values measured in a plurality of samples of used engine lubricant taken from the engine over a period of time, the system comprising:

a first input that receives the plurality of analysis parameter values and a plurality of historical analysis parameter values for the engine that are indicative of one or more characteristics of the used lubricant and stores the plurality of analysis parameter values and historical analysis parameter values in a memory of a processor;

a second input that receives an analysis parameter threshold value for the used lubricant at the end of a service interval and stores the analysis parameter threshold value in a memory of the processor;

a determiner that determines a future analysis parameter value for determining the lubricant drain interval by performing modeling of the plurality of analysis parameter values and the historical analysis parameter values, and comparing the future analysis parameter value to the analysis parameter threshold value to determine whether or not the future analysis parameter value exceeds the analysis parameter threshold value at the end of the service interval in order to provide an output indicating the lubricant drain interval (LDI) in an engine, wherein the modeling performed by the determiner is selected from a partial least squares regression model and a neural network model, and wherein said analysis parameter values and said historical analysis parameter values comprise three or more used lubricant analysis parameters, and said analysis parameter values and said historical analysis parameter values further comprise two or more non used lubricant analysis parameters.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determiner is configured to generate the lubricant drain interval for the engine.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the engine lubricant comprises a crankcase engine oil.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said determiner comprises a computer that predicts the lubricant drain interval.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer comprises the determiner.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said used lubricant analysis parameters comprise three or more parameters selected from a group consisting of iron, lead, tin, copper aluminum, boron, oxidation, nitration, potassium, silicon, sodium, soot, TBN, water, fuel, sludge, and insolubles in the engine lubricant sample.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the used lubricant analysis parameters comprise three or more parameters selected from a group of analysis parameters consisting of zinc, boron, oxidation, nitration, potassium, silicon, sodium, soot, water, fuel contaminant, fuel byproducts, sludge, lead, and insolubles.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the non used lubricant analysis parameters comprise at least two or more of non used lubricant analysis parameters selected from the group consisting of oil pressure, run time hours of an engine or unit, engine temperature, megawatt hours produced, total miles of the unit or engine between oil changes, and age of the engine or unit.

9. A processor-based method for predicting a lubricant drain interval in an engine based on a plurality of analysis parameter values measured in a sample of used engine lubricant taken from the engine, the method comprising:

receiving at a first input of a processor the plurality of analysis parameter values and a plurality of historical analysis parameter values for the engine that are indicative of one or more characteristics of the used lubricant and storing the plurality of analysis parameter values and historical analysis parameter values in a memory of the processor;

receiving at a second input of the processor an analysis parameter threshold value for the used lubricant at the end of a service interval and storing the analysis parameter threshold value in the memory of the processor; and

using the processor (a) to determine a future analysis parameter value for the used lubricant by performing modeling of the plurality of analysis parameter values and the historical analysis parameter values;

(b) to compare the future analysis parameter value and the analysis parameter threshold value to determine whether the future analysis parameter value exceeds the analysis parameter threshold value at the end of the service interval; and

(c) to provide an output indicating the lubricant drain interval (LDI), wherein the modeling performed by the processor is selected from a partial least squares regression model and a neural network model, and wherein said analysis parameter values and said historical analysis parameter values comprise three or more used lubricant analysis parameters, and said analysis parameter values and said historical analysis parameter values further comprise two or more non used lubricant analysis parameters selected from the group consisting of oil pressure, run time hours of an engine or unit, engine temperature, megawatt hours produced, total miles of the unit or engine between oil changes, and age of the engine or unit.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

predicting the service interval for the used lubricant.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the engine is provided in one or more of:

a tractor;

a locomotive;

a bus;

an automobile;

a motorcycle;

a scooter;

a watercraft;

an aircraft;

a truck;

a wind turbine;

or a generator.