Please use your business email address if applicable

Visite nuestro sitio en Español

fluid analysis

Outsmarting Varnish Avoids Costly Downtime - Measuring Varnish Potential in Lube Oil

by Matt McMahon

Lubricating oil in gas turbines and hydraulic systems is unfortunately subject to the ravages of varnish. It is well-documented that varnish is an insoluble contaminant comprised of oil degradation by-products and sometimes depleted additive molecules. It is generally caused by some type of thermal (heat-related) stress placed on the oil. The debilitating effects of varnish include the loss of operating clearances within machinery and a loss of heat transfer due to thermal insulating. As more operators face the prospect of varnish in their lube oil systems, they are turning to oil analysis labs for answers.

Understanding the Rate of Change Dangers with Alarms

By Matt Spurlock and Jeff Keen

With alarms being a primary tool in today's predictive maintenance programs, it is becoming increasingly important to fully understand the concepts around setting alarm levels. With oil analysis, we are looking at three primary categories: machine health, lubricant health and system contamination. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on those alarms related to machine health, with follow-up articles focusing on the remaining types of alarms.

Analysts, Inc. Launches Next-Gen LOAMS

HAWTHORNE, CA - Analysts, Inc. has launched its highly anticipated Next Generation LOAMS® Lube Oil Analysis Management System. Two years in development, this state of the art user interface gives maintenance personnel real-time control of their oil analysis program like no other.

Trico Corporation Announces Development of New Oil Analysis Laboratory Adding more jobs to Wisconsin

Pewaukee, WI - September 25, 2012 - Trico Corporation, a leader in total lubrication management services and products, announced today the addition of a new oil analysis laboratory at its Pewaukee, WI facility. The lab will be constructed utilizing demand driven instrument configurations. This design for flow will enable flexibility so immediate changes to instrument locations and configurations can be made in a moment’s notice, as customer demand changes.

Eclipse Magnetics Launch New Cost Saving Filtration System

Eclipse Magnetics, experts in industrial fluid filtration systems, have extended their range with the launch of Automag Compact. The new development is a high intensity automated magnetic filter which improves efficiency on small to medium sized precision metal machining processes such as grinding, honing, milling or super-finishing.

Oil Analysis Techniques as a CBM Assessment Tool for Plant Critical Equipment

Cary Forgeron and John Underwood

Oil analysis has long been accepted as a valid condition monitoring maintenance technique. The facts show that when properly utilized with a qualified laboratory, proper testing and a full commitment of the user, oil analysis offers the lowest cost of implementation and provides the highest rate of return on investment than any of the predictive maintenance disciplines.

TESTOIL Introduces an Improved Technology for Analyzing Industrial Filters

Cleveland, Ohio - TESTOIL, an independent industrial oil analysis laboratory, has updated their Filter Debris Analysis testing process. The improvements have significantly increased the laboratory’s ability to identify wearing machine components which provide improved diagnostic and prognostic information about impending failures.

POLARIS Laboratories Opens New Fluid Testing Lab in Moscow, Russia

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - POLARIS Laboratories, the leading North American fluid analysis provider, also operates one of the largest networks of independent laboratories for testing technical fluids, including fuel, oil and coolant, in the United States, Canada and Central America. The company has now expanded into Russia with the opening of POLARIS Laboratories Russia, the official representative of POLARIS Laboratories, located in Moscow. This laboratory represents the seventh facility for POLARIS Laboratories. The managing director of POLARIS Laboratories Russia is Dr. Guram Nemsadze, who has 19 years of experience in the field of oil refining, lubricants and tribology. He also teaches undergraduate and graduate students at the I. M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas.

Oil Analysis: What Are Your Expectations? Our Journey to Discovery

Richard Woolley

To introduce or revamp an oil analysis program is nothing new to the mining industry. Many companies have successful programs that work within their reliability and maintenance engineering groups. Many other companies have found that through the ups and downs of the economy, they constantly have to improve the oil analysis program because of employee layoffs during the down periods.

Kittiwake Launches FTIR3 Oil Analyser

London: Kittiwake, a leading global provider of asset control and protection technology, today announced the launch of its FTIR3 Oil Analyser. Designed to provide fully compliant ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) oil measurements in the field for the first time, the FTIR3 Oil Analyser comes pre-loaded with standard ASTM test parameters for lubrication oils and requires only minimal intervention from the user.

POLARIS Laboratories Expands into Central America

Guatemala City, Guatemala - Leading North American fluid analysis provider, POLARIS Laboratories®, is again extending its global reach with a new laboratory in Guatemala City. This expansion supports the company’s global strategy for continued growth and is indicative of the strength and potential of the Central American market.

The Truth Untold Not All Oil Analysis Reports Are Created Equally

By Evan Zabawski

As we see the trend of both on and off-highway heavy-duty diesel engines switching to multigrade oils, it becomes more and more important to check the 40°C viscosity, as well as the 100°C viscosity, in the used oil analysis. While both numbers may be reported on a used oil analysis report, the lab may have chosen to only measure one and merely calculate the other.

POLARIS Laboratories® Makes Inc. 5000 List

Indianapolis, IN - For the third year in a row, POLARIS Laboratories® has been named to Inc. Magazine’s List of 5000 Fastest Growing Privately-Held Companies in America. The premier provider of oil analysis services throughout North American ranks 3,243rd this year (3,579th in 2010 and 3,400th in 2009). Company revenue has increased by more than 55% from 2007 to 2010 and the number of employees has grown from 130 in 2009 to 185 today.

Asset Condition Management

Why Do Fluid Analysis Programs Fail to Achieve Their Full Potential?

A 50 minute long presentation by Walt Huysman, CLS, OMA - Oil Analysis Business Development Manager, Trico Corporation

It has been proven many times over that fluids analysis can be an effective method to reduce maintenance and downtime costs. Typically, however, many fluids analysis programs do not deliver the results they could be or should be even with the best of intentions. What are some of the most common reasons why fluids analysis program do not deliver on their full potential?

Des-Case Showcases its NEW Gen4 HiVAC Vacuum Dehydrator at the 2011 Finepoint Conference

Goodlettsville, Tenn.—Des-Case Corporation, a leading manufacturer of contamination control products for industrial lubricants, showcased its new Generation 4 HiVAC Vacuum Dehydrator at Finepoint’s 18th Annual Circuit Breaker Test & Maintenance Conference in Jackson, MS, October 3-7, 2011.

Oil Sampling: Still the Foundation for a Successful Oil Analysis Program

By Jason Kopschinsky

A decade ago, I learned the true value of an oil sample.

I was working in a steel mill, sampling roll mill gearboxes and screening them onsite for ISO particle count, ferrous density, moisture and viscosity. As you can imagine, these gearboxes get pretty beat up both inside and out, so it was not uncommon to see high particle counts and associated ferrous wear in many of the samples. On one occasion in particular, one of the gearboxes had exceeded the cleanliness target by a small margin. This too was not uncommon. Contamination control, storage and handling, and relubrication practices were all in need of improvement in this facility. What was significant was that the ferrous density for the sample from this gearbox was off the charts. Clearly, this was information that I needed to pass on immediately. To my surprise, my warnings fell on deaf ears. I wrongly assumed that when I passed along this information to the maintenance foreman that alarms would sound, maintenance staff would assemble and the problem would be dealt with. Instead, nothing happened. What eventually happened was this gearbox failed catastrophically, resulting in twenty-seven hours of lost production time and a host of associated costs and lost revenue.