Grant: Alliance Grants

Our industrial partner, Gastops Ltd, is a Canadian world leader in condition monitoring of rotary machinery, notably wind turbines, gas turbines for power generation, and aerospace engines. In collaboration with Carleton University, the company is developing technologies for real-time condition monitoring using on-line sensors capable of predicting the remaining useful life of a lubricating oil. This is based on a real-time analysis of the light absorbed and emitted by the oil, which can tell us about the concentration of key additives and their degradation by-products. When these additives are depleted, the oil will lose its desirable properties. The current prototype the company uses is only capable of approximately detecting one type of additive (a family of antioxidants typified by a molecule called PAN). In this work, we will work with them to extend this to a second important type (another family of antioxidants typified by a molecule called BHT). This will require different analytical techniques and modeling of the oil degradation process. Our combined theoretical, computational and experimental approach will lead to the development of high-fidelity, predictive combination of sensors and models for this purpose. The impacts will be reduced waste oil from unnecessary lubricant changes, longer lives for rotary machinery, and more efficient energy utilization in Canadian industry.