ON-LINE OIL CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENT

Click here for downloadable brochures

Printable Version


New Methodology

On-line measurement of oil consumption is of interest, in light of the new environmental regulations imposed on today's high-performance engines.
Lubricant consumption has a negative impact on the environment, but it also reduces the life-time of post-treatment systems by poisoning catalysts and clogging particle filters.
A new method was recently developed and patented by DSi Belgium and TOTAL France for monitoring oil consumption on running engines. It is based on lubricant labeling using new radiotracer compounds, which are made representative of the distillation interval of the base oil.
Oil consumption measurement is performed in the exhaust line where tracer residues are trapped and monitored during engine operation.

Measurement Principle

Engine oil is labeled by adding a radiotracer to the engine oil, and a monitoring system is installed near the exhaust line where the marker will be trapped. During engine operation the tracer is burned proportionally to the lubricant The measurement consists of monitoring, in real-time, the amount of tracer trapped in the exhaust line. The amplitude of the detected signal is proportional to the oil consumption.

Measurement Principle



Features

Map




OIL CONSUMPTION MEASUREMENT ON A V6 ENGINE


A consumption measurement was performed on a V6 PR gasoline engine. During the experiment two probes were installed near the exhaust line - one per cylinder bank - in order to monitor and to compare consumption of the two banks.
Oil labeling was performed using a radiotracer having a short half-life of ~40 hours. The tracer was a mixture of organic compounds showing the same distillation interval as the base oil contained in the lubricant.
The aim of this short experiment was to show the impact of engine speed and load on oil consumption. Extreme conditions have also been tested, including engine knocking.

V6

As expected, higher speeds and loads are associated to higher lubricant consumption. It also appears clearly that consumption of cylinder bank 1 is significantly higher than bank 2. Between t=110 and t=130 min., the sudden oil consumption increase was due to particular conditions that induced engine knocking.

© ANS Technologies Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved.