The Control of Contaminants in Circulating Engine Lubricating Oil

摘要

Proper lubrication filtration is essential if maintenance and reliability costs of mechanical systems are to be minimized. Filtering too little can cause high rates of wear and costly failures, while filtering too much can cause excessive maintenance costs. Better understanding is required such that the optimum level of filtration, between these two extremes, can be achieved. Optimum filtration is equally desirable even in the presence of an on-line wear monitoring system. For this reason a theory of filtration has been developed and is presented herein. This is the only theoretical treatment applicable to tribology, although an alternative purely empirical model due to Fitch is also available. In contrast to the empirical approach, the results are not dependent on a specific particle size distribution ('AC Fine Test Dust'), and the effect of governing parameters (filter grain size and void fraction, fluid flow rate and viscosity, etc.) can be predicted. The predictions of the theory are consistent with physical reasoning and the known properties of filters. The basic concepts developed cna be directly applied to Naval lubrication systems, with a very quick pay-back in terms of reduced maintenance and reliability costs. A goal is to set up procedures such that optimum filtration can be achieved in Naval ship lubrication systems.