The present invention relates to a device (1) for measuring the oxidation stability and/or the thermal stability of any type of fuel, including diesel fuel, by miniaturization of the test system by use of a microfluidic technique. The physical phenomena to which fuels are subjected are reproduced by the microchannels (12) of the microfluidic chip (7), which comprise a representation of at least one of the fuel injection and the fuel circulation for a drive system, an internal-combustion engine or an aircraft reactor for example.

Foam testing apparatus with closed loop air circulation along sample cylinder which maintains lubrication oil sample at desired temperature during test procedure. The apparatus may include a digital camera adjacent to the sample cylinder for observation and recording of foam characteristics during test procedure.

Machine for testing thermal resistance of plastic materials, comprising a tank configured, in use, to be filled for example with a heat-transfer fluid; a heating coil for heating the heat-transfer fluid; a temperature sensor generating a temperature signal of the heat-transfer fluid; and a control unit calculating a degradation index of the heat-transfer fluid on the basis of the temperature signal. In particular, the degradation index is calculated by determining the temperature range associated with the temperature signal, updating the corresponding partial heating time, and calculating the weighted sum of the partial heating times previously saved in memory and pertaining to different temperature ranges. Upon reaching one or more thresholds, signals are generated which indicate the need to replace the heat-transfer fluid.

Effects of Oxygen on grease or another organic paste product can be evaluated with a modified version of the ASTM D942 test methodology for oxidation stability of lubricating greases or other organic paste products by employment of an oxidation pressure vessel, in which at least one of (A) a very small sample of the grease or other organic paste product is deployed for testing within the oxidation pressure vessel such that the sample has an enhanced surface area to mass ratio, and (B) a temperature other than about 99° C. is employed during the testing. In general, the testing is carried out under oxidation pressure conditions. The sample may be evaluated with respect to Oxygen uptake. Additional technique(s) directed to oxidation and/or other properties of the sample may be carried out before to after any Oxygen uptake evaluation, for example, FTIR analysis and/or ATR-FTIR analysis.

An oil degradation meter and a method for evaluating oil degradation are provided, in which a user is enabled to arbitrarily set a degradation of oil/fat using an acid value (AV value) as an index, and capable of learning a replacement time of oil/fat easily with a stable reproducibility, even in a case where a condition such as a moisture amount in food (deep-fried food) is different. In a setup procedure, an acid value (AV.sub.0) of unused oil/fat is set to 0, a dielectric constant (D.sub.0) at that time is measured and recorded, a dielectric constant (D.sub.100) of oil/fat at a replacement time under a specific oil/fat usage condition is measured, and it is recorded along with an acid value (AV.sub.100) at that time, and in a measurement procedure, a dielectric constant (D.sub.n) of the sample oil/fat is measured, and an acid value (AV.sub.n) of said sample oil/fat is calculated based on the dielectric constants (D.sub.0, D.sub.100) and the acid value (AV.sub.100) recorded in said setup procedure, according to a calculation formula of [AV.sub.n=AV.sub.100×{(D.sub.n−D.sub.0)/(D.sub.100−D.sub.0)}].

The present invention relates to a system for characterizing at least one of the oxidation stability and the thermal stability of a fuel sample. The system comprises at least a device (MSIE) for performing an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement in the sample, and a device (MDM) for determining deposit mass forming in the fuel sample. The invention further relates to a method for characterizing at least one of the oxidation stability and the thermal stability of the fuel over time, from measurements performed by the system according to the invention.

A sensor for monitoring the quality of oil in mechanical machinery is provided. The sensor includes a portion that is sealed from the oil which contains electric circuitry to process signals received from the sensing elements. Another portion of the sensor is exposed to the oil and contains one or more sensing elements to sense one or more properties of the oil. The sensed properties may include electrical properties, temperature properties and/or optical properties.

A sensor assembly for monitoring an internal condition of a transformer comprising: a body for location outside a tank of the transformer, the body housing an electronics assembly including body sensors coupled to a processor; a probe extending from the body for insertion into a tank of the transformer; a number of probe sensors coupled to the processor disposed at or toward a remote end of the probe for sensing conditions within the tank; wherein the processor is configured to process signals from the probe sensors and the body sensors to produce signals for assessing one or more of: transformer core temperature; transformer insulation state; partial discharge; mechanical state of transformer; chemical state of transformer.

An apparatus to simulate biocide performance in crude oil pipeline conditions is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a reactor to simulate a two-phase crude oil pipeline which includes a crude oil phase above a water phase. The reactor has an agitator to control a flow of the water phase in the reactor in response to a motor that drives an agitation rate of the agitator. A crude oil inlet supplies crude oil to the reactor for the crude oil phase. A water inlet supplies water to the reactor for the water phase. A control circuit is configured by code to control a proportion of the water to the crude oil supplied to the reactor and to control the motor to drive a desired agitation rate of the agitator. A biocide inlet supplies biocide to the reactor. A water sample outlet enables sampling of the water phase of the reactor.

The present disclosure relates to various testing methods that can be applied to oils, such as pyrolysis oils. Different testing methods can be used to determine the oxidative stability of an oil. The testing methods may also be used to differentiate between various oils and to determine the effectiveness of various antioxidants on the oxidative stability of an oil.