Photonic Low Cost Micro-Sensor for in-Line Wear Particle Detection in Flowing Lube Oils

Abstract

The presence of microscopic particles in suspension in industrial fluids is often an early warning of latent or imminent failures in the equipment or processes where they are being used. This manuscript describes work undertaken to integrate different photonic principles with a micro- mechanical fluidic structure and an embedded processor to develop a fully autonomous wear debris sensor for in-line monitoring of industrial fluids. Lens-less microscopy, stroboscopic illumination, a CMOS imager and embedded machine vision technologies have been merged to develop a sensor solution that is able to detect and quantify the number and size of micrometric particles suspended in a continuous flow of a fluid. A laboratory test-bench has been arranged for setting up the configuration of the optical components targeting a static oil sample and then a sensor prototype has been developed for migrating the measurement principles to real conditions in terms of operating pressure and flow rate of the oil. Imaging performance is quantified using micro calibrated samples, as well as by measuring real used lubricated oils. Sampling a large fluid volume with a decent 2D spatial resolution, this photonic micro sensor offers a powerful tool at very low cost and compacted size for in-line wear debris monitoring.

Overview of Applications of the Sensor Technologies for Construction Machinery

“…In Ref. [11], a novel on-chip impedance sensor for on-line analysis of wear and tear fragments is proposed based on the monitoring of industrial hydraulic transmission systems. In figure 3, the on-chip impedance sensor is depicted as being mainly composed of impedance sensors and linear microchannels.…”

“…Schematic of the on-chip impedance sensor[11]: (a) The overall design; (b) Cross-section of the sensor; (c) A single-layer coil.…”

A Context-Aware Oil Debris-Based Health Indicator for Wind Turbine Gearbox Condition Monitoring

“…This kind of sensors monitor the fluid condition and contamination using optical technology by capturing high-resolution images of the moving fluid, and later applying advanced processes of image digitisation and spectral analysis. They detect, quantify and classify the particles bigger than 4 microns by size and/or shape, in addition of distinguishing these particles from air bubbles [28]. Besides wind turbine lubrication system monitoring, this kind of technology is well-suited for other industrial applications such as automotive, steel sector, wastewater treatment or cement industries [29] as all of the previous use lubrication systems.…”

Low Cost Photonic Sensor for in-Line Oil Quality Monitoring: Methodological Development Process towards Uncertainty Mitigation

“…Management of uncertain and evolving specifications, continuous risk assessment, synchronizing of multidisciplinary working teams (e.g., micromechanics, optics, electronics, fluidics, etc.) are common challenges to be solved in the field of sensor development [ 21 ]. In addition, increasing importance of time to market (TTM) and project costs reduction in order to be competitive [ 22 , 23 ], and the complexity inherent to the technological bases of the sensor’s scientific measurement principles need to be managed efficiently throughout the whole development process of the sensor product.…”

“…On the other hand, there is also previous experience in photonic sensors development based on light matter interaction for accomplishing measurements about chemical and physical parameters in fluids, not only for industrial but also for food sectors [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Figure 3 describes the most important effects and phenomena (reflection, absorption, diffraction, scattering, etc.)…”