New Orbital Ball Type of Viscometer

摘要

This paper describes a new orbital ball type of digital viscometer designed foruse in maintenance departments to measure viscosity of lubricants and hydraulics. A steel ball placed in a small cup containing the test oil is caused to rotate around the inner wall of the cup by electromagnetic action. The speed of the ball is measured with a microcomputer and viscosity of the fluid is computed. The operator has the option of easily cleaning the cup, or discarding the cup and ball for little cost. Other advantages are low cost, ruggedness, small sample volume, wide range, high repeatability. Equations governing the operation are developed, and experimental results are presented. Temperature of the fluid is measured and results can be extrapolated to standard conditions.