Spectro Scientific Blog

Monitoring turbines with oil analysis is well known and well established. All turbines, both steam and gas, have a large oil reservoir to lubricate the turbine bearings. Older designs had separate sumps for the hydraulic control of valves, whereas newer designs may have the lube oil and hydraulic sump linked together. Power plant operators new to oil analysis can be easily confused about what all the tests are. Fortunately, the industry has developed umbrella specifications for power plant lubrication monitoring, such as ASTM D4378 and ASTM D6224, and these define almost every test used to qualify lubricants for new and in-service monitoring for power plants.  

Oil analysis is a very useful tool for gear systems. Geared systems are found across both mobile and industrial equipment. Though they are designed to be very reliable, they cause a lot of disruption and costs when they wear or break due to poor operation or contamination. Oil analysis is a great tool to detect when failure conditions are developing, and as such most gear manufacturers suggest condition monitoring, including oil analysis.

Enable your service team with a portable oil analyzer

It is not an easy task to accurately assess the condition of lubricating oil after a sample has been taken from your machinery. Such timely information is critical in helping service engineers to identify potential problems and to plan appropriate maintenance actions. Lubricant condition can be expressed in terms of oil degradation and contamination and they differ in reciprocal engines (off and on highway truck fleet, automotive fleet, marine vessel fleets) and in rotating machines (commonly used in industrial manufacturing plants). These difference are summarized in the table below