title: Low-cost oil quality sensor based on changes in complex permittivity.
abstract: Real time oil quality monitoring techniques help to protect important industry assets, minimize downtime and reduce maintenance costs. The measurement of a lubricant's complex permittivity is an effective indicator of the oil degradation process and it can be useful in condition based maintenance (CBM) to select the most adequate oil replacement maintenance schedules. A discussion of the working principles of an oil quality sensor based on a marginal oscillator to monitor the losses of the dielectric at high frequencies (>1 MHz) is presented. An electronic design procedure is covered which results in a low cost, effective and ruggedized sensor implementation suitable for use in harsh environments.
authors.affiliation: Sustainable Design Research Centre, Bournemouth University, Fern Barrow, Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB, UK. angeltp@gmail.com
authors.forename: Angel Torres
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hadfield