The Oil-Plus® System
The Oil-Plus® system is a machinery health monitoring program. It is an enhanced oil analysis procedure that provides automatic surveillance of machinery health conditions and is designed to prevent serious equipment damage or major mechanical failures, reducing overall workload and maintenance costs.
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​Oil-Plus® uses Atomic Emission (AE) Spectrometer for analysing wear metal content, additive system components, and contaminants of the oil samples, and a Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) Spectrometer for measuring the physical conditions and other contaminants of the oil samples.
Spectrometric data is obtained by the AE Spectrometer and then oil physical parameters are measured by the FTIR Spectrometer. The testing data is stored in our database, along with the matching history, the identifying profile for each unit, and the relevant lubricating oil specifications. Sample data are then analyzed using The Oil-Plus® system and a recommendation report is produced. The report displays the unit condition, trends, parameters that are outside limits, and identifies problems that need to be addressed.​
The system identifies four categories of machinery condition. They are "Normal", meaning no apparent problems, "Abnormal", which indicates a minor problem that can be left until the next inspection, "Critical", showing a serious problem that needs immediate attention, and "Destructive", which means the equipment is in a catastrophic state and must be shut down at once.
Fluid Analysis Techniques
AE and FTIR Spectroscopy
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The Atomic Emission (AE) Spectrometer determines the level of wear metals and contaminants in used lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids. The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer is used to identify organic materials by measuring the absorption of various infrared light wavelengths by the material of interest.
Viscometry
The kinematic viscosity of a fluid is determined by measuring the time for a volume of liquid to flow under gravity through a calibrated Zeitfuchs cross arm glass capillary tube suspended in a water or oil bath, maintained at a constant temperature of 100C or 40C.
Moisture Titration
The volumetric water content of used lubricating oil is determined by Karl Fischer titration.
Acid and Base Titration
The Automatic Potentiometric Titrator (Karl Fischer) is used for the determination of the concentration of a liquid or solid by titration method. This allows for the measurement of acidic and basic constituents of the fluid. From this it can be determined whether the additive system is still capable of neutralizing acid residues.
Reserve Alkalinity Titration
The Automatic Potentiometric Titrator is also used for the determination of the effectiveness and remaining life of a coolant, based on additive degradation and contamination.
ISO Cleanliness
A fluid contamination comparitor is used to estimate the amount and type of solid contamination in a hydraulic oil or lubricating oil. ISO Cleanliness Codes are given using the revised ISO 4406 (FDIS) procedure for reporting fluid cleanliness measurements resulting from APC's calibrated with the new NIST traceable method.
LMOA Pentane Insolubles
A filtration procedure, in accordance with the LMOA Fuels, Lubricants and Environmental Committee Standard Insolubles Test Method Revision 3, is used for the determination of coagulated pentane insolubles in used lubricating oils.