Lubricant circulation diagnostic and modeling system

A method of actively monitoring a lubricated work-generating component in a circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to said component, comprising comparing influent to said component with effluent from said component to ascertain how lubricant is modified by said component, by sensing a condition of said lubricant passing through said filter, providing a plurality of sensors and sensing a condition of said lubricant before and after passing through said filter and before and after passage through said component.

A method of actively monitoring a lubricated component in a circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to said component, comprising comparing influent to said component with effluent from said component to ascertain how lubricant is modified by said component, by sensing a condition of lubricant passing through said filter wherein said circulation system includes a first path passing lubricant from said filter to said component, and a second path passing lubricant from said component back to said filter, and comprising providing a first set of one or more sensors in said first path and sensing a condition of said lubricant after passage through said filter and before passage through said component, and providing a second set of one or more sensors in said second path and sensing a condition of said lubricant after passage through said component and before passage through said filter, modulating the flow of lubricant to said component to facilitate said sensing and testing of said active monitoring.

A method for monitoring contamination in a lubricant circulation system circulating lubricant through a filter to a lubricated component, comprising providing a combination of contaminant sensors sensing contamination of said lubricant before and after passage through said filter and before and after passage through said component, and evaluating the output of said sensors including comprising determination of gross contamination level of said lubricant, solids contamination, amplitude and frequency of excursions from said baseline, and noise due to operation of said component.

A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated work-generating component, a modulating device modulating lubricant circulation to provide a modulated condition, a sensor detecting said modulated condition a filter for removing contaminants from said lubricant, and means for forming a dynamic model from output from said sensor enabling diagnosis of the condition of the lubricant, filter and component.

A lubrication system comprising a circulation system circulating lubricant to a lubricated component, a modulating device modulating lubricant circulation to provide a modulated condition, a sensor detecting said modulating condition a filter for removing contaminants from said lubricant, and means for evaluating the output of said sensor utilizing an algorithm which performs frequency response analysis enabling diagnosis of the condition of the lubricant, filter and component.