Why run an oil analysis?

Oil analysis safeguards equipment and profits. An essential part of predictive maintenance, oil analysis helps heavy-duty construction companies and manufacturing plants to guarantee performance and extend the life of machinery.

Industry estimates show that 75% of equipment downtime and repair costs are traceable to the use of polluted fuels and lubricants. With periodical oil analysis, businesses can detect contamination and prevent their machines from failing.

For example, a heavy-duty construction company can use oil analysis to check the condition of lubricating oils in its haul truck engines. Such a test reveals the wear and tear of the engine and can alert to the need of replacing the engine oil.

A car manufacturer can track the amount of water in the oil used in the drives of its industrial robots. Whereas a little water is harmless, bigger amounts can lead to the formation of corroding acids and damage the industrial robot.

Oil analysis is also useful for detecting fuel dilution or leakage of antifreeze liquids.

How to run oil analysis?

An accurate oil analysis requires attention to sample size and knowledge about the operating temperate of the machine using the scrutinized lubricant.

To remove human error and the risk of wrong results, modern predictive analytics rely on automated instruments to analyse oil. The top analysers in the market can be used by field personnel without previous training in chemical analysis. They are also portable and make real-time and on-site monitoring possible.

An example of such modern analysers is Grabner Instruments’ MINISCAN IR LOG. Weighting roughly 7 Kg, MINISCAN IR LOG is a FTIR-analyser. That is, the device uses an infrared spectrum to measure oil properties, additives and contaminants. Its unique dial-path sampling system guarantees accurate measurements just a drop of oil.