Online monitoring of lubricant quality

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Practically all machines and engines require lubrication, but, surprisingly, there exists not a single online sensor that is capable of measuring the quality of the lubricant in real time. For example, lubricants quickly oxidize as soon as antioxidant additives are consumed, yet oxidation stability is typically measured off-line in a process that is prone to producing false positives. In recent years we collaborated with GasTOPS Ltd. to identify spectroscopic signatures that allowed us to accurately determine antioxidant concentrations. Currently, these measurements require a commercial fluorescence excitation-emission-matrix spectrometer with a large footprint and a cost of >$40,000 that produces 46 x 550 spectroscopic measurements every 20-40 mins. Such an instrument is unsuitable for robust, online and real-time analysis. In this joint project we will develop two prototypes that are capable of measuring antioxidant concentrations every 5 seconds.** These new spectrometers are based on Hadamard-encoding of the excitation wavelengths and dispersion of the fluorescence onto an array detector. One of them will return 1000 x 1000 spectral measurements every second. Its components are budgeted at a cost of < $10,000. The other spectrometer is even less expensive but will only return a comparably sparse matrix of 10 x 1000 data points at a cost of < $5,000. In addition we will develop a modified fiber probe that can withstand the lubricant temperatures inside a running engine and is capable of providing optical measurements of fluorescence, absorption, and scattering. We will attempt to also determine the size, number density and shape of particle debris.** At least 6 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will be involved in all aspects of the project in addition to one undergraduate student per year. These HQP will obtain technical training in spectroscopy, chemical kinetics and hydrocarbon chemistry, and also receive valuable contacts with research intensive companies, obtain project management skills and communication skills.**