Voelker Sensors, Inc. – VSI

Continuous On-board Oil Condition Monitoring

2016

Overview

• Who is VSI ?• Key Oil Quality Indicators• Technology• Trending – Continuous Monitoring vs.

Sample and Analyze• Applications and Field Data• Customers• Partners

Who is VSI

• 1st Generation products (Oil Sentinel, Oil Insyte) measure oil polarity and temperature

• 2nd Generation product - Oil Advantage– measures base oil breakdown (polarity)– additive depletion (conductivity, polarity) – fuel contamination– moisture contamination– coolant contamination – over temp condition– excess soot– 6 Patents granted

Key Oil Indicators

• Oxidation – first step in oil breakdown • TAN/TBN – second step in oil wear • Viscosity – secondary indication of oxidation• Additive depletion • Contaminants

– Fuel – Water, Coolant – Soot– Metals

VSI Technology

• VSI Measurements– Polarity (base stock breakdown) - includes multi-

frequency excitation (patented)– Conductivity (additive depletion)– Patented differential sensor measurements– Water, Coolant in oil (patented)– Temperature– Excess Soot– Fluid Level– Fuel Contamination (patented)

Polarity

• Clean base stock is non-polar• Oil becomes more polar as it breaks down• c=c bond breaks, c-o oxygen attaches forming

carbonyl – correlates with FTIR Oxidation• Second bond breaks forming carboxylic acid –

Correlates with TBN• Polarity measurement uses patented ion exchange

polymeric bead matrix methodology

Hydrocarbon Structure

“The most important chemical reaction of a hydrocarbon, for a lubrication engineer or analyst, is oxidation.”

“The most important chemical reaction of a hydrocarbon, for a lubrication engineer or analyst, is oxidation.“

• http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/14/lubricant-oxidation

Polarity Measurement

Relative Low Conductivity

Bead Matrix in Clean (nonpolar) Oil

Relative High Conductivity

Bead Matrix in Degraded (polar) Oil

Oil Conductivity

• Direct DC measurement

• Conductivity decreases as conductive additives are

consumed

• Potential for multi-frequency excitation to extend

functionality

• Conductivity measures conductive metals

Water/Coolant Contamination

• Water detected using patented technology• Some water is expected

– All oil has some moisture– Tolerable amount is application specific– Caused by Condensation or– Coolant leaks

Fuel Contamination

• Fuel decreases oil’s ability to lubricate

• Fuel is aromatic hydrocarbon

• Patented VSI fuel sensor detects presence of

aromatic hydrocarbon in oil down to a theoretical

limit of 0.02%

• Sensor can be manufactured to different limits of

fuel contamination

Excess Soot

• Soot is byproduct of diesel combustion process

• Dispersants in oil to control soot agglomeration

(carbon sticking together)

• Dispersants exhausted, soot agglomerates, plugs

filters

• Excess soot creates unique sensor signal

Sample and Test• Benefits

– Lots of information• Drawbacks

– Sample point– Sample time– Delivery, Test, Report delay– Accuracy of results– Sample frequency

Sampling Two Data Points Create a Straight Line

Continuous Monitoring

VSI Installations• Mine Trucks• On Road Trucks• Transmissions• Locomotives• Oil Filled Transformers• Generator Sets• Gas Compressors• Steel Mills• Paper Plants• Wind Turbine Gear Boxes• Hydro-Electric Generators • Propane engines• On road vehicles• Hydraulics

Mine Installation

C112 Completely Worn OilPolarity

Additive Depletion

Base-stock Breakdown

C112 Completely Worn OilConductivity

Additive Depletion

Wear Metals (slight increase)

C112 Wear Calculation or RULEDetermined from polarity and conductivity measurements

Coolant DetectionExample from Haul Truck

Soot Detection

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

178

150

170

190

210

230

250

Sequence III Test - Soot

Polarity

Time - Hrs

Sign

al

A Closer Look at Coolant IntrusionA large leak shows up at 468 hours however, the leak began at 117 hours

Fuel Detection in the Field

• Lab Reports 0.2 % fuel on 3/4/2012

2/02 - 12:00 AM 2/07 - 12:00 AM 2/12 - 12:00 AM 2/17 - 12:00 AM 2/22 - 12:00 AM 2/27 - 12:00 AM 3/03 - 12:00 AM0

50

100

150

200

250

Fuel Signal Truck 343

Cummins Engines

Wear Comparison Identical vehicles, engines and driving conditions, different amounts of wear on

oil as determined by FTIR and VSI sensor

IR/VSI Comparison

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 450000

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

531 IR - OX532 IR Ox531 VSI - Ox532 VSI Ox

Transmission Fluid

0 6 22 44 66 84 90 105

128

133

139

145

151

163

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Synthetic Transmission Oil

Polarity

Conductivity

Hours

Cond

uctiv

ity Oil Added

NC Machine Tools

NC Machine Oils

20 25 30 35 40 45 500

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Machine Oils

Clean Oil

Used Oil #5

Used oil # 4

Temperature C

Pola

rity

Sign

al

Wind Turbine Gear Box

Wind Turbine Gear Oil

2013/02/03/20:45

2013/02/13/12:45

2013/02/23/2:45

2013/03/03/3:45

2013/03/08/16:45

2013/03/15/13:45

2013/03/26/1:45

2013/04/03/17:45

2013/04/10/9:45

2013/04/15/7:45

2013/04/23/0:45

2013/04/26/19:45

2013/04/30/9:45

2013/05/07/12:45

2013/05/11/2:45

2013/05/15/3:45

2013/05/19/3:45

2013/05/23/3:45

2013/05/27/16:45

2013/05/30/20:45

2013/06/04/10:45

2013/06/06/16:45

2013/06/08/7:45

2013/06/13/1:45

2013/06/14/17:45

2013/06/18/5:45

2013/06/26/11:45

2013/06/28/12:45

2013/06/29/21:45

2013/07/04/20:45

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

TAN (mg KOH/g)Water (PPM)

Generator Set

Gen Set Data

5/20/2012 0:00 5/25/2012 0:00 5/30/2012 0:00 6/4/2012 0:00 6/9/2012 0:00 6/14/2012 0:000

50

100

150

200

250

Power Box - PNG

Cond

VSI Sensor Integrated with Oil Fill System

Reburn System with Sensor

4/1/2012 0:00 4/5/2012 0:00 4/9/2012 0:00 4/13/2012 0:00 4/17/2012 0:000

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

PolarityConductivityCoolantTemperature

Level System Data

Oil Sensor Built into Pump

Hydro Electric

Sensor Installed at Hydro

Oil Field Installation

Natural Gas Installation

NG Compressor

50

70

90

110

130

150

170

-10

10

30

50

70

90

110

130

150

Compressor Data

Polarity Conductivity Moisture

NG Engine Data

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

130

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Engine Data

Polarity Conductivity Water

Customers• Freeport McMoran - Mine• Kennecott Utah Copper Company – Mine• Serveron Corporation - Transformer• Reserve Systems Corporation - mine• DCP Midstream – Natural gas transmission• Master Tech – Power Generation• Avatrak – Hydro Power, Wind Power, Mine• GE – Wind Power, Machine Tools• Cincinnati Machine – Machine Tools

Partners• Cincinnati Machine• Reserve Systems• Emtec• Micron Scientific• Serveron Corp• Eaton?

Conclusion• Production products in the field for 10 years• Detects

– Oil breakdown– Aqueous contamination– Fuel contamination

• Multiple products for multiple applications