Engine lubrication oil consumption and condition monitoring
AssigneeCaterpillar Energy Solutions GmbH
InventorsDarshit Shah, Jan-Rudolf Spitzer, Markus Frank
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Abstract
The present invention pertains to a method of determining a lubrication oil condition of a stationary gas engine comprising the steps of retrieving a lubrication oil temperature information and retrieving a lubrication oil level information from a lubrication oil level sensor, wherein the lubrication oil level sensor is a capacitance sensor, and a step of normalizing a lubrication oil level information over the lubrication oil temperature information.
Claims20
A lubrication oil condition management method carried out by a lubrication oil condition monitoring system of a stationary gas engine,
- wherein the lubrication oil condition monitoring system comprises:
- a temperature sensor in the stationary gas engine,
- a capacitance sensor configured to measure a lubrication oil level, and
- an engine temperature state indicator (ETSI) look-up table that comprises an ETSI map populated based on a predetermined engine cooling circuit design;
- and
- wherein the lubrication oil condition management method comprises:
- acquiring a temperature value from the temperature sensor in the stationary gas engine;
- retrieving, by applying the temperature value to the ETSI look-up table, a lubrication oil temperature information as a dimensionless temperature reference value;
- retrieving a lubrication oil level information from a lubrication oil level signal provided by the capacitance sensor;
- determining a lubrication oil condition of the stationary gas engine using a permittivity value obtained using the lubrication oil level signal that is normalized over the lubrication oil temperature information, wherein the determining is carried out by applying the lubrication oil level signal that is normalized over the lubrication oil temperature information, to a degradation map;
- and
- initiating, by the lubrication oil condition monitoring system in accordance with the determining, a remedial operation with respect to the lubrication oil of the stationary gas engine.
Stationary gas engine including a lubrication oil condition monitoring system comprising:
- a temperature sensor in the stationary gas engine,
- a capacitance sensor configured to measure a lubrication oil level, and
- an engine temperature state indicator (ETSI) look-up table that comprises an ETSI map populated based on a predetermined engine cooling circuit design;
- a computing device;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with data and instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the lubrication oil condition monitoring system to carry out a lubrication oil condition management method comprising:
- acquiring a temperature value from the temperature sensor in the stationary gas engine;
- retrieving, by applying the temperature value to the ETSI look-up table, a lubrication oil temperature information as a dimensionless temperature reference value;
- retrieving a lubrication oil level information from a lubrication oil level signal provided by the capacitance sensor;
- determining a lubrication oil condition of the stationary gas engine using a permittivity value obtained using the lubrication oil level signal that is normalized over the lubrication oil temperature information, wherein the determining is carried out by applying the lubrication oil level signal that is normalized over the lubrication oil temperature information, to a degradation map;
- and
- initiating, by the lubrication oil condition monitoring system in accordance with the determining, a remedial operation with respect to the lubrication oil of the stationary gas engine.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.