Engine wear and oil quality sensor

Abstract

A viscosity and corrosivity sensor apparatus includes a substrate upon which one or more electrodes are configured. The electrode(s) are exposed to a liquid, such as automotive oil. An oscillator can be connected to the electrode, wherein the oscillator assists in providing data indicative of the corrosivity and data indicative of the viscosity of the liquid in contact with the electrode(s). A viscosity and corrosivity sensor is therefore provided in the same package.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] Embodiments are generally related to sensing devices. Embodiments are also related to etch rate sensors. Embodiments are additionally related to corrosivity and viscosity sensors. Embodiments are also related to sensors for measuring engine wear and lube oil quality data. Embodiments are additionally related to acoustic wave sensors. BACKGROUND [0002] Acoustic wave sensors are utilized in a variety of sensing applications, such as, for example, temperature and / or pressure sensing devices and systems. Acoustic wave devices have been in commercial use for over sixty years. Although the telecommunications industry is the largest user of acoustic wave devices, they are also used for sensor applications, such as in chemical vapor detection. Acoustic wave sensors are so named because they use a mechanical, or acoustic, wave as the sensing mechanism. As the acoustic wave propagates through or on the surface of the material, any changes to the characteristics of the p...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027] It is another aspect of the present invention to provide for a single sensor that accomplishes viscosity and etch rate measurements.

Problems solved by technology

Most acoustic wave chemical detection sensors, for example, rely on the mass sensitivity of the sensor in conjunction with a chemically selective coating that absorbs the vapors of interest resulting in an increased mass loading of the SAW sensor.

What happens is that it becomes contaminated with water, acids, burnt and un-burnt fuel, carbon particles and sludge so that it can no longer provide the desired degree of protection for engine components.

Most oil filters in modern vehicles do not remove all the contaminants.

A filter can only remove solid particles above a certain size.

It cannot remove water, acids, or fuel dilution, all of which pass through the full-flow filter just as readily as the oil.

There is a limit, however, to the amount of contamination that even the best oil can neutralize, and there comes a time when the only satisfactory procedure is to drain the oil and replenish the engine with a new charge.

The question is now “how often should engine oil be changed?” Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question.

From the foregoing discussion, it is apparent that oil is changed not because it has deteriorated, but because it has become contaminated with various harmful substances, and that the greater the rate at which such substances enter the oil, the sooner an oil change is necessary.

The contamination comes from the engine combustion chambers where the gasoline is burned to produce powder.

There are two different types of fuel combustion in engines: efficient combustion or clean burning; and inefficient combustion or dirty burning.

Thus, during the burning of gasoline in engines, a potential problem exists with respect to soot, resins, acids, and water formation.

If combustion products function past the pistons and manage to penetrate the crankcase oil, then a problem of dirty, contaminated oil will exist.

If the oil is allowed to become too dirty and contaminated, sludge deposits can form, thereby resulting in plugged piston rings, oil pump screens and oil filters.

Engine wear and even engine damage can then result.

The really tough lubricating job is the engine, which typically experiences only short runs with numerous stops and starts, especially in cold weather.

The worst conditions for both the engine and the oil are the very conditions under which the great majority of passenger cars are used most of the time.

Primarily due to the cost of laboratory analysis, however, these tests are only performed on a routine basis, i.e. monthly or at each oil drain interval.

Lube oil within a healthy engine degrades at a slow rate with normal use.

It is at the second function, however, where lab analysis fails and does not provide sufficient failure warnings such as coolant leaks and stress related metal failures.

Equipment is normally sampled on a monthly basis and while this is a sufficient interval to safely monitor the lube condition, many times this frequency is not sufficient in detecting engine problems.

On the second day, unknown to the maintenance personnel and the oil lab, a coolant leak develops within the engine.

Within the next several days, the coolant leak degrades the oil within the engine to the point that it causes wear to occur to bearings and other parts of the engine.

Two days after receiving this report, the operator notices that the oil is becoming cloudy and that the engine is making a little steam.

The routine monthly sampling of the used oil was not effective in achieving its goal.

Diesel engines are particularly hard on oil because of oxidation from acidic combustion.

The frequency changes caused by small changes in viscosity of highly viscous liquids, however, are very small.

Because of the highly viscous loading, the signal from a sensor oscillator is very “noisy” and the accuracy of such measurement systems is very poor.

One of the problems with acoustic wave devices utilized in oil monitoring applications, for example, is that frequency changes caused by small changes in the viscosity of highly viscous fluids, are very small.

Because of highly viscous loading, the signal from an oscillator associated with the acoustic wave sensor device is very noisy and the accuracy of such measurements is very poor.

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