Online monitoring of lubricant quality

几乎所有的机器和发动机都需要润滑，但令人惊讶的是，没有一个在线传感器能够实时测量润滑剂的质量。例如，一旦抗氧化添加剂被消耗，润滑油就会迅速氧化，而氧化稳定性通常是在离线测量的过程中进行的，这很容易产生误报。近年来，我们与GasTOPS有限公司合作，确定光谱特征，使我们能够准确地确定抗氧化剂浓度。目前，这些测量需要商用荧光激发-发射矩阵光谱仪，占地面积大，成本为40000美元，每20-40分钟产生46 x 550光谱测量。这样的仪器不适合鲁棒、在线和实时分析。在这个联合项目中，我们将开发两个能够每5秒测量抗氧化剂浓度的原型。

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.