ENGINE-MOUNTED OIL ANALYSIS SENSOR

THE WORK PROPOSED IN THIS STUDY WILL TAKE RESULTS FROM CFR LABORATORY RESEARCH OF ENGINE OIL DEGRADATION AND APPLY IT TO THE ARMY'S REQUIREMENT FOR AN ENGINE-MOUNTED SENSOR. THE BASIC CONCEPTS PROPOSED USE SPECIFIC WAVELENGTH RANGES IN THE INFRA-RED TO DETECT DEGRADATION PATTERNS MOST SPECIFICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE LOSS OF OIL QUALITY IN DIESEL ENGINES. PHASE I CONCENTRATES PRIMARILY ON LOSS OF DISPERSANCY; PHASE II WILL CONCENTRATE MORE ON OTHER AREAS SUCH AS OXIDATION, LOSS OF ZDP, AND NITRATION. PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF MEASUREMENTS MADE ON DIESEL ENGINE OIL SAMPLES TAKEN DURING A MILEAGE-ACCUMULATION STUDY HAVE SUPPORTED THE CONCEPT THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO DETECT IMMINENT DISPERSANT FAILURE BY A MEANS OTHER THAN FORMS OF OIL DEGRADATION IS A WELL ESTABLISHED LABORATORY TECHNIQUE. THE SENSOR CONCEPT IS SIMPLE, AND THE OUTPUT SIGNALS WILL BE INTERPRETED BASED ON INCORPORATION OF ACCUMULATED KNOWLEDGE FROM TESTING INTO A CONTROL ALGORITHM.