Oil analysis

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OVER TIME: Oil monitoring is going to become critical to the PMV industry, according to Gouzerh.

A lubricant company has come up with a novel way of ensuring machines are serviced when needed.

We take regular oil changes for granted - after all, who is going to risk a million dollar machine for a few dirhams of lube? However, simply changing the oil on schedule doesn't really tell the owner anything about the condition of the engine, or if the right oil is being used.

Of course some operators claim to be able to divine the workings of an engine by the colour and viscosity of the oil, however the black stuff is generally regarded as an end product of servicing, rather than integral to it.

However, a major oil multinational hopes to bring something new to the party, with analysis service.

A sample of lubricant is sent via courier to Exxon Mobil's lab in Alexandria, where it undergoes a series of tests. Michel Gouzerh, CEO ExxonMobil Lubricants explained: "Our customer register through a website. They send samples of oil to our lab in Alexandria and then in two days they get exactly what you get when you have a blood test. You get a picture of data and this gives you what is happening in the equipment. What happens in the life of the equipment is that the oil deteriorates. So the key is not the quality of the oil, it is the quality of the oil over time. The oil will deteriorate, it will be contaminated or there will be deposits so the characteristics of the oil will go down so the quality of the oil is not the starting point it is how it stays over time."

He adds: "If you don't monitor, you may have problems, it's like your car, one day it will have mechanical troubles. So, at intervals you have no guarantee that you don't have contamination by water, you may have all or a sudden, you may have just made an oil change and there were some contaminants from the previous oil, and then after a few weeks it will appear."

"So, simply changing the oil on a very high frequency would be a very basic way to run a business."

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Lubricant companies have been doing this for years
Posted by Amr Massoud, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 30 July 2008 at 09:22 UAE time

I don't see how this can ever be considered "novel". Oil analysis and reporting has actually been around since at least the 1990s, if not earlier, and is one of the added value services many lube companies use to enhance their customer service, especially in the industrial and commercial market segments. The article describes what any serious lube company, particularly the majors and global players, would offer as oil analysis. The critical issue is not the service itself, but the proper interpretation of the results of the analysis. Using the same analogy of the blood sample and its laboratory analysis, it is the lab technician that provides the results, but it is up to an experienced doctor to interpret the results, and since interpretation is a "human factor" that can have tremendous consequences, it is also the responsibility of the lube companies to ensure the person providing the interpretation (of oil analysis results) be a qualified person that deeply understands both the chemistry of the oil and the mechanics of the machine, as well as the environment in which the machine is operating. Furthermore, a good knowledge of the history of the machine in question is essential to determine the critical levels. Trends are much more relevant to this than one time results.

Oil
Posted by ken, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 29 July 2008 at 22:45 UAE time


Is this a joke, this type of service has been available for more than 30 years by Caterpillar

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