SBIR Phase I: Versatile In-Situ Engine Lubricant Health Sensor

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将开发一种创新的，具有成本效益的机油质量传感器，可以检测发动机机油何时以及如何降解，作为智能发动机健康监测系统的一个组成部分。电流传感器通常仅与特定类型的油或特定类型的降解机制（例如，金属碎片或水污染）一起工作，或者从诸如发动机运行时间的信息间接地推断油状况。目前，没有一种单一的、机载的、具有成本效益的传感器可以识别不同来源的石油降解。新的传感器将允许在线监测，通过在单个传感器上集成一套传感功能来检测各种模式的油降解。这项研究的更广泛/商业影响是开发车载传感器，可以持续监测发动机健康状况，并在需要维修时提醒操作员/驾驶员。智能发动机将确定其最佳服务间隔，并利用高级机油质量传感器提供的信息，可以避免因过于频繁的机油更换而增加成本或因过于不频繁的机油更换而增加发动机磨损。可靠的、具有成本效益的机载油液状态传感器将有利于发动机原始设备制造商，因为它们可以通过降低客户的寿命成本来获得竞争优势，并且由于其操作和维护成本降低而使最终用户受益。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop an innovative, cost-effective, oil quality sensor that can detect when and how engine oil becomes degraded, as an integral part of a smart engine health monitoring system. Current sensors typically work only with a specific type of oil or a specific type of degradation mechanism (e.g. metal fragments or water contamination) or indirectly infer oil condition from information such as engine run time. Presently no single, on-board, cost-effective sensor that will identify oil degradation from different sources is available. The new sensor will allow on-line monitoring to detect various modes of oil degradation by incorporating a suite of sensing capabilities on a single sensor. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are developments to on-board sensors that can continuously monitor engine health and alert the operator/driver when service is required. A smart engine will determine its optimal service interval and with information provided by the advanced oil quality sensor can avoid added cost of too frequent oil changes or increased engine wear from too infrequent oil changes. A reliable, cost-effective on-board oil condition sensor will be beneficial to the engine original equipment manufacturers as they can gain a competitive edge by reducing lifetime cost to their customers, and benefit the end users as their operation and maintenance costs are reduced.