Lubrication Condition Sensor for determination of the viscosity

The lubrication condition sensor LubCos Vis+ from the condition-monitoring-division of hydraulics specialist ARGO-HYTOS is intended to measure the viscosity of lubricating and hydraulic fluids. The viscosity is a decisive parameter for characterization of the lubrication capacity of oils as well as of the flow resistance and power loss in fluid-technical systems. Depending on the type of the system and its friction points, the viscosity must be kept in fixed limits over the entire operating temperature range. In systems with lubrication fluids often events occur such as thermal oxidation or shearing, which lead to a change of the viscosity and thus to oil aging. Furthermore a mixture of oils might inadvertently occur so that the viscosity exceeds the permitted limits.

The oil condition sensor LubCos Vis+ can reliably detect the changes in the viscosity of the lubrication fluid. In addition, it determines besides the viscosity another two parameters of the oil: the relative permittivity and the temperature. With the help of these parameters the sensor is able to recognize aging of the oil and – with suitable configuring of the sensor – calculate the prospective remaining lifetime. Thus at high strain of the oil, severe wear can be recognized at an early stage or oil change intervals may be prolonged accordingly at low strain. The sensor is designed as a screw-in sensor and communicates either over a serial RS232-interface, two analog 4-20mA outputs as well as a over serial CANopen-interface.