Very small objects such as tiny flakes of metal and tiny chemicals degraded from lubricants can cause big things like hydroelectric generators and giant liquefied Air Compressors to shut down.
Therefore, after 10 years of research, Fluitec International, headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, focuses on improving the life and performance of industrial lubricants. After accurate monitoring of working conditions, a set of methods is proposed.
The secret: Take a sample of the mechanical failure-causing material from the grease, scrape it on a piece of filter paper (called a filter chip), accurately measure its color data, and compare that color data to a graph showing the degree of lubricant degradation Compare. In the color measurement process, Fluitec chose the X-Rite RM200QC Portable Imaging SpectroColorimeter. .
"The prospect of the RM200QC is exciting," said Mary Moon, Fluitec's scientist responsible for validating the accuracy of the instrument's color measurement of filter chips. Available for testing."
She said that the RM200QC is a big step forward from previous similar systems in terms of reliability and supplier technical support for the equipment. X-Rite's strong customer support and the product's required portability, measurement accuracy and reliability, coupled with a reasonable product price, well meet the conditions for Fluitec to introduce the RM200QC.
To test a lubricant, a technician first adds a solvent to an oil sample to dilute it, then uses a Vacuum Pump to scrape the liquid onto a semipermeable membrane. They used the RM200QC to perform accurate measurements of solid residues on test chips. Through the correspondence between the color of the chip and the working condition of the mechanical equipment, Fluitec advises customers how and when to perform preventive testing on lubricant maintenance, thereby avoiding customers paying millions of dollars in potential repair costs. For example, Siemens, one of the world's largest professional large-scale power station equipment manufacturers, is a strategic partner of Fluitec.
The handheld RM200QC is designed to simplify the process of color comparing laboratory samples or product parts to reference standards in the textile, coating, chemical, plastic molding and other industries, and then creating inspection reports to share with customers or supply chain partners.
The new instrument far exceeds current Colorimeters in terms of capabilities. Its advanced functions include: confirming the color difference between samples and reference standards, measuring opacity and gray scale, and more prominently displaying color changes under D65 simulated daylight light source and IlluminantA domestic tungsten lamp.
Quality Control or Quality Assurance personnel can learn to operate the RM200QC in just a few minutes. With a choice of 4 or 8mm aperture, they can preview the sample on the instrument's full-color display, then press a button and get the measurement within 2 seconds. The results given by the instrument include: pass/fail information or CIEL*a*b* values and ΔE color difference values. At the same time, it can also report the results under all color difference formulas and tolerances, such as CIELAB, CMC, CIE94 and CIE2000.
The RM200QC can store 20 reference standards and up to 350 measurements, and can automatically stamp the time and date of the measurement. Measurement results can be saved as PDF and CSV files, which can be easily downloaded and shared with relevant personnel through the USB interface. All measurements can save the surface image of the test sample, text description or voice information, and output reports in multiple languages.
As the world's largest designer and manufacturer of color management and communication systems, X-Rite (X-Rite) used proprietary camera technology when designing the RM200QC to illuminate the surface to be tested from three different directions, and at the same time within 1.8 seconds Record 27 color-accurate images inside, eliminating shadows and distractions inherent in patterned and textured materials and surfaces. With 8 visible light sources and 1 UV light source, the RM200QC can more accurately define the color position within the color space than traditional Colorimeters that usually only have three color light sources (red, green and blue).
The RM200QC can be used by both Fluitec’s field crew and direct customers to perform a Membrane Chip Color (MPC) test and then compare the results to a graph of hundreds of lubricants and their expected life in Fluitec’s proprietary database, Moon said.
Fluitec marketing officer Greg Livingstone said: "In fact, we focus on the following three methods to better improve the life and performance of industrial lubricants: through the laboratory and similar instruments such as RM200QC to monitor the condition of lubricants in use; Maintenance recommendations to extend lubricant life; take advantage of the vast amount of data related to lubricants and machines through consultation and data analysis.
Among the many unique databases, Fluitec has worked tirelessly to build a relational database of machine condition observations and MPC test results, which has driven Fluitec's success in the market. Over the past four years, Fluitec has grown about 70% annually, Livingstone said. The company's U.S. headquarters are in Jersey City, its European headquarters is in Antwerp, Belgium, and its Asian headquarters is in Singapore, with sales and service representatives in more than 40 countries.
Fluitec's market is mainly for industries such as power generation, petroleum refining, papermaking and air cryogenic distillation, where equipment uses a large number of rotating parts.
According to Moon, Fluitec first performed the MPC test professionally, effectively checking the operation of filters, reservoirs, valves and equipment components to establish a baseline, and then continued to regularly monitor the condition of the equipment through MPC testing.
"We've been working on this project for the last 10 years and we've gained a lot of experience with test development and how machine conditions relate to lubricants," Livingstone said. "Take as many lubricant 'snapshots' as possible and compile them into A 'movie' is even better. With long-term fixed trend analysis and sampling, you gain a better understanding of liquid degradation.
“Since pressurized fluids pose an operational risk to our customers, we have eliminated the by-products of degradation, essentially reducing the hazards of the equipment. The RM200QC has inspired us to utilize another contamination control technology when problems arise or may arise, such as ESP filtration, solves this problem. Additionally, this instrument demonstrates and validates the success of this technology in providing a solution and eliminating degradation by-products."
