 |
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
The ability of radioactive tracer technology to measure near real-time oil consumption during engine operation provides a valuable tool for evaluating overall engine performance with respect to hardware designs, combustion technologies, engine operating strategies, and lubricant chemistries. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) uses radioactive tracer techniques to make highly accurate and sensitive real-time oil consumption measurements in operating engines. Benefits of the Radioactive Tracer Oil Consumption MethodThe benefits of the radioactive tracer oil consumption method, which measures oil concentration in the exhaust, includes:
The radioactive tracer oil consumption method is important because oil consumption has been identified as a strong contributor to diesel engine particulate emissions, which complicates the NOx-particulate tradeoff. The tie-in of oil consumption to engine wear is also significant because increases ring and liner wear almost always leads to increased oil consumption. Oil Consumption Testing ProceduresThe oil consumption measurement is based on tritiation of the oil, followed by the measurement of radioactivity levels in continuous samples collected from the exhaust.
Tritiation is the process of replacing some of the hydrogen atoms in the oil with radioactive tritium (3H) atoms through catalytic exchange. This exchange takes place in a sample of base stock, which is then mixed with the fully formulated oil prior to testing. If all hydrocarbon in the consumed lube oil is burned to completion, all hydrogen—including the tritium—will be converted to water. Consequently, activity of the water collected in the exhaust sample will be directly proportional to the mass of oil consumed in the engine during the sampling period.
During testing, a continuous exhaust sample is taken at each engine operating condition. The sample is processed to obtain the total amount of water available. The radioactivity of this water is directly related to the mass of lubricant consumed during the sampling period, and it is calculated mathematically from the data.
For more information about our real-time oil consumption measurement capabilities, or how you can contract with SwRI, please contact Martin B. Treuhaft at mtreuhaft@swri.org or (210) 522-2626.
|
|
||||||||||
|
| Fuels and Lubricants Technology Department | Fuels and Lubricants Research Division | SwRI Home | |
||||||||||||
|
Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a multidisciplinary, independent, nonprofit, applied engineering and physical sciences research and development organization with 11 technical divisions. |
||||||||||||
|
December 28, 2012 |
||||||||||||
