EESIFLO's online water in oil detection monitor and transmitter

Online monitoring of commonly used conditioning methods to purify fluids in hydraulic and lubrication systems has raised questions about the impact of high heat and vacuum pressure on the chemical and physical properties of the fluid and their performance. Of particular importance is the examination of the impact of vacuum pressure and temperature on water and gas removal, and on the chemical and physical properties of hydraulic and lubricating fluids.

Fluid conditioning or purification is the removal of contaminants such as water and air/gases combined with filtration to remove particulate (solid contaminants) from hydraulic and lubrication oils. It is a relatively straightforward and cost-effective approach to make these fluids suitable for continued use thus extending their service life and reducing the waste stream.

Fluid conditioning is an essential step to ensure reliability of hydraulic and lubrication systems since it not only enhances the performance of the fluid, but also helps protect system components, resulting in increased productivity and equipment availability. Water is one of the most common contaminants due to its ubiquitous nature and ability to ingress into the system. Water may be present in the base fluid in any or all of its three forms: free, emulsified and dissolved, and each can damage the fluid and the system components.

The EASZ-1 will measure total water irrespective of conditioning methods whether by both mechanical and physio-chemical separation should they be Centrifuge, coalescer and absorbent filter methods. The EASZ-1 can detect and monitor removal of non removal of saturated or free and emulsified water.

ONLINE WATER IN OIL MONITOR FOR HYDRAULIC OILS, LUBRICATION FLUIDS AND ADDITIVES, FUEL OIL, DIESEL OIL AND HYDROCARBONS.

THE EASZ-1 IS YOUR IDEAL ONLINE WATER OIL MONITOR

The Eesiflo EASZ-1 Water in Oil Monitor is designed to: Accurately measure small amounts of water content in oil Automatically compensate for changes caused by temperature changes Provide a linear analogue output representative of the water content The EASZ-1 is able to measure small amounts of water by monitoring the changes in the dielectric property of the fluid passing through the probe. The probe works as a capacitor where the inner and outer pipe sections form the two electrode plates in a capacitor. The process fluid itself forms the dielectric. The EASZ-1 does in fact not directly measure the water content, it measures the amount of energy that can be stored in the process fluid currently within the probe. The amount of energy that can be stored is determined by the average dielectric constant (DC) of whatever mixture currently within the probe.

Dielectric Constant:

A material characteristic expressed as the capacitance between two plates when the intervening space is filled with a given insulating material divided by the capacitance of the same plate arrangement when the space is filled with air or is evacuated.

Oil and Water have very dissimilar dielectric properties; the typical value for oil is between 1.7 and 2.1. and water has a typical value of 80. So, in other words, water is capable of storing much more energy per volume unit than the average oil.

It is important to understand that any changes to the oil that affects the dielectric properties of the oil will show up as a small change in water content. If at any point the oil is changed by additives, a tank is filled up with new oil, or maybe a full oil change, one will most likely have to reset the zero Note: If changes are large, i.e. you are running completely different oil through the probe; there may also be a need to change the calibration curve.

It is also important to understand that for applications where the oil is subject to wear and tear there will be a small drift over time as the dielectric properties will slowly alter as the oil degrades.

It is wise, due to the principles of operation, to take samples to a lab on a regular basis, and using this information, whenever needed, retune the instrument zero. To an initiated user the slow drift over time may be a valuable tool to monitor oil wear, while at the same time more rapid changes in readout can be considered true indication of water contamination.

The ideal mounting position for the EASZ-1 is vertical, with the flow coming in from the bottom. The main reason for this is to avoid trapping of air bubbles. It is perfectly OK to mount the EASZ-1 in any position, but care has to be taken to avoid trapping air. If air is trapped, or the flow contains lots of air bubbles, then the measurement will be affected. The Dielectric Constant of air is roughly 1 and will therefore cause the total reading towards lower water content. If the EASZ-1 is used to monitor a larger pipe, and therefore mounted on a bypass, care has to be taken that the bypass stream is representative of the total stream ensuring that the water and oil are mixing. The EASZ-1 throughput limitations given are rough guidelines. Too low flow can cause water-oil separation, i.e. give you a non-representative reading. Too high flow may cause gas breakout, i.e. give you a too low reading. It is important to mount the instrument at a place where readings will be most representative of what is flowing through the stream.

Contact your local representative for more information on the EASZ-1 or log onto www.eesiflo.com