JPS6315147A - Method and apparatus for measuring contaminant in oil - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure only the content of a contaminant by erasing the dielectric constant of oil itself prior to calculation, by measuring the dielectric constant of oil to be inspected using two kinds of different frequencies. CONSTITUTION:The output values A1, A3 of oil A to be inspected are respectively outputted by a first frequency dielectric constant sensor 5 and a second frequency dielectric constant sensor 6 and inputted to an operation circuit 7 to perform operation shown by A3-KA1=A3-A2. By this method, correction calculation is performed using the correction value A2 of A1 when the output terminal of A3 is obtained. Further, when an impurity separator applying an electric field of same frequency to selectively remove only the impurities in the oil to be inspected is used and the outputs before and after separation treatment are respectively measured by first frequency dielectric constant sensors 4, 5 on the basis of the change in the dielectric constants thereof, the amount of impurities caught by the separator is obtained from the change quantity of the dielectric constants.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Field of Application in Industry A) This invention measures the content of contaminants, that is, water and impurities in oil, from changes in the dielectric constant of oil based on the capacitance method. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus thereof.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, many methods have been known to measure and detect the state of contamination of yuzu by determining the change in electric rate using the capacitance method, and a device for measuring contaminants in oil has also been widely used for this method. There is.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional measuring means described above can only be used for certain types of oil, and may be sensitive to not only the contamination state but also the effects of changes in the dielectric constant of the oil itself. C could not be ignored either. In other words,
The dielectric constant of oil is a combination of the following formula: dielectric constant of oil = dielectric constant of oil itself + electric constant of contaminants (impurities, water), and the dielectric constant is used as an indicator of the target contaminant. When considering the constant, the overall permittivity is of no use. Therefore, it was necessary to subtract the dielectric constant of the oil itself, but a method for doing so has not been considered until now. There was also a request to be able to measure the amounts of contaminants and moisture individually using dielectric constant.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and uses a method and device that can detect impurities and moisture individually, regardless of changes in the dielectric constant of the oil itself. It provides the means.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The method and apparatus for measuring contaminants in oil according to the present invention are characterized in that a first dielectric constant change obtained by applying an electric field of a first frequency to a test oil; A second dielectric constant change obtained by applying an electric field equivalent to the first frequency to the treated oil from which impurities or moisture floating in the oil have been removed by passing through a separator; The third change in permittivity obtained by applying an electric field with a frequency different from the frequency of is determined, and the third change in permittivity obtained by applying an electric field with a frequency different from the frequency of The content of moisture and impurities in the test oil is measured and detected from the second and third changes in dielectric constant.

(Function) First, as a general matter in this invention, when measuring the dielectric constant by the capacitance method, a pair of capacitance measuring electrodes is used as a sensor, and a subject is inserted between the electrodes.
When an AC voltage (2) of a predetermined frequency is applied to the electrode, an AC current i flows according to the following equation. That is, where, ε: dielectric constant d: distance between electrodes S: electrode area ω・2πf (f is frequency) As shown in equation (1), since the substance has an inherent permittivity ε,
The alternating current 1 becomes a current proportional to the dielectric constant ε. That is, the alternating current i is approximately proportional to the amount of the substance, and for example, in oil, the amount of contaminants can be determined by measuring this current. However, if the oil has a different dielectric constant, the output current will be different even if the amount of dye substance is the same. Therefore, it is necessary to measure and correct the dielectric constant of the oil itself.

In this invention, the above correction is performed using the difference in dielectric constant depending on the frequency from the electrical characteristics, based on the experimental results of the difference in the polarization state of the material for different frequencies. We discovered this possibility, and using this correction method as a measurement means is the key to solving the problem.

Here, FIG. 1 shows the results obtained by experimentally determining the above relationship. In the figure, the horizontal axis is the frequency (f in equation (1)), and the vertical axis is the output represented by the current (i) flowing between the electrodes for capacitance measurement.

As shown in Figure 1, the solid line shows the output change when changing the frequency for two types of oils A and B with different dielectric constants, and the output obtained in the same way after adding a certain amount of contaminants to each oil. Changes are indicated by dashed lines.

This means that the polarization state of the contaminants in the oil depends on the frequency, and the higher the frequency, the higher the sensitivity to the contaminants. Based on the experimental results shown in Fig. 1, using equation (2), A3-kAl
=A3-A2 Formula (3) B3-kBl =B3-B
2 Equation (4) is obtained, and the change in permittivity of only the desired contaminant can be determined from the output current using Equations (3) and (4).

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a system configuration combining the above measurement methods. In the figure, 1 is a separator for contaminant particles in oil, 2 is a measurement tube that also serves as a flow path for the oil to be tested, 3 is a metering pump for transporting the oil to be tested, and 4 is a dielectric at the first frequency. 5 is a first frequency dielectric constant sensor for the test oil after separating and removing contaminant particles in the oil in the separator 1; 6 is a second frequency dielectric constant sensor; 7 is the above three dielectric constant sensors; 8 is an output display section of the calculation circuit 7 which calculates the output from the rate sensor.

With the system configured as shown in FIG. 2 above, for example, in the case of test oil A, the output values Al and A in FIG.
3 are respectively output by the first frequency permittivity sensor 4 and the second frequency permittivity sensor 6 in FIG. Ru. In this way, correction calculation is performed using the AI correction value A2 when the output value of A3 is obtained.

In addition, an electric field of the same frequency is applied to the separator 1, and a contaminant separator that selectively removes only the contaminants in the sample oil is used, and the output before and after the separation process is measured in the first If the change in permittivity is measured by the frequency permittivity sensors 4 and 5, the amount of change can be determined as the amount of contaminants captured by the separator. Furthermore, in a similar manner, if a water separator that selectively removes water is used as the separator 1, the amount of water in oil can be detected at the same frequency.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Examples according to the present invention will be described below.

Embodiment 1: FIG. 3 is a block explanatory diagram showing an apparatus for measuring contaminants in oil in which the dispenser l in FIG. 2 is replaced by a filter that allows moisture to pass through but removes contaminant particles as a contaminant separator. It is. In FIG. 3, the device is the same as that shown in FIG. 2, except that la is replaced with the above-mentioned contaminant separator.

In this case, according to the measurement procedure explained above, the first frequency permittivity sensor 4 and the first frequency dielectric constant sensor after the contaminant separator 1a are
The output difference of the frequency permittivity sensor 5 is calculated by the calculation circuit 7 to determine the amount of contaminants present in the oil. and,
First frequency dielectric constant sensor 5 and second frequency dielectric constant sensor 6
The output of is calculated in the same way to determine the amount of water in the oil, and the display unit 8 outputs the result.

Embodiment 2; FIG. 4 shows a case where the separator 1 in FIG. 2 is an oil-water column device that uses heat to vaporize water.
It is a block explanatory diagram showing an in-oil contaminant measuring device. In FIG. 4, lb indicated by a dotted line block is the oil/water column device, and 9 is a heater used within the oil/water column device. This oil separation device 1b removes moisture from the test oil that has passed through this device.

In this case, according to the procedure described above, the calculation circuit 7 calculates the output difference between the first frequency permittivity sensor 4 and the first frequency permittivity sensor 5 after the oil/water column device 1b, and emulsifies the oil. Find the amount of water present in the state. Further, the outputs of the first frequency permittivity sensor 5 and the second frequency permittivity sensor 6 are similarly calculated to determine the amount of contaminants, and the amount of contaminants is outputted on the display section 8.

In addition, in the above example, a case was explained in which a contaminant separator and an oil/water column device were used as a contaminant separator, but in addition to this, by changing the type of separator, the total rate of moisture and contaminants can be improved. It goes without saying that it is possible to construct a device system that requires the following.

(Effect of the invention) As explained above, the present invention measures the dielectric constant of the oil to be tested using two different frequencies, thereby eliminating the dielectric constant of the oil itself. By developing a measuring method and device that can do this, it has become possible to measure only the content of contaminants, mainly water and impurities, present in oil, regardless of the type of oil.

In addition, it has a simple configuration and has the effect of being able to individually calculate the amount of contaminants and water in oil through a series of operations in a short period of time.In addition, it does not require any reagents for measurement, and the sample can be collected by public telephone. For this reason, only one pump is required, which has the effect of simplifying the measurement procedure and equipment configuration.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a graph showing the frequency characteristic of the dielectric constant of oil, which is the basis of the measurement method of the invention, Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram of the system configuration of the measurement method of the invention, and Figure 3 is one of the methods of the invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a measuring device showing an embodiment of the present invention. Agent Patent Attorney Tadashi Sato Year 3 Zuju% 4 Figure 9: Bengai t3

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a method of measuring contaminants in oil from a change in the dielectric constant of the oil using a capacitance method, the first change in dielectric constant obtained by applying an electric field of a first frequency to the oil and the contaminant A second dielectric constant change obtained by applying an electric field equivalent to the first frequency to the oil from which impurities in the contaminants have been removed by the impurity separator, and the oil treated by the impurity separator. A third permittivity change obtained by applying an electric field of a second frequency different from the first frequency to
A method for measuring contaminants in oil, characterized in that the moisture content and impurity content in the oil are detected from changes in the dielectric constant of the oil. (2) The method for measuring contaminants in oil according to claim 1, wherein the contaminant separator is a moisture separator to remove moisture in the contaminants. (3) In a device that measures contaminants in oil from a change in the dielectric constant of oil using a capacitance method, the first change in dielectric constant obtained by applying an electric field of a first frequency to the oil and the contaminant a second dielectric constant change obtained by applying an electric field equivalent to the first frequency to the oil from which impurities in the contaminants have been removed; A third dielectric constant change obtained by applying an electric field of a second frequency different from the first frequency to the oil is determined by a series of measurement operations, and An apparatus for measuring contaminants in oil, comprising a mechanism for calculating the impurity content rate and water content rate in the oil individually by calculating the rate change. (4) The contaminant measuring device in oil according to claim 3, wherein the contaminant separator is a moisture separator, and is a device for removing moisture from the contaminants.