Systems and apparatuses relate to a system comprising a controller comprising at least one processor coupled to a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: determining a concentration of a plurality of wear metal particles in a lubricant for an engine system; determining a confidence parameter regarding the concentration determination; determining a filtered concentration of the plurality of wear metal particles using a baseline concentration of the plurality of wear metal particles; setting a diagnostic threshold for the plurality of wear metal particles based on the confidence parameter; and, responsive to determining that the diagnostic threshold is exceeded, providing a notification.

A gas turbine engine can have a magnetic chip detector system with a first conductor member and a second conductor member both exposed to a lubricant flow path of the gas turbine engine, at least a first one of the conductor members including an electromagnet including a coil wrapped around a ferromagnetic core. As part of an engine shutdown procedure, an intrinsic magnetic field strength within the ferromagnetic core can be increased by circulating electrical current in the coil, and the electrical current circulation can then be interrupted for the magnetic field to remain active during engine shutdown.

Provided is a sensor that can appropriately sense the amount of abrasion powder (conductive substance) in a mechanical device of any size, and thereby to provide a sensor that can be generally used for preventive maintenance of any mechanical parts. The sensor includes a first electrode and a second electrode. A voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode to accumulate conductive substance between the first and second electrodes in order to sense a decrease in electric resistance between the first and second electrodes. The distance between the first electrode and the second electrode is adjustable.

A controller includes at least one processor coupled to a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to: perform operations comprising: determining a concentration of a plurality of wear metal particles in a lubricant for an engine system; determining a filtered concentration of the plurality of wear metal particles using a baseline concentration of the plurality of wear metal particles; setting a diagnostic threshold based on the filtered concentration of the wear metal particles; and, responsive to determining that the concentration of the wear metal particles exceeds the diagnostic threshold, providing a notification.

A sensor relating to one embodiment of the present invention includes a first electrode, a second electrode, an attracting portion arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode, where the attracting portion attracts conductive particles smaller than a gap between the first electrode and the second electrode to cause a change in electrical resistance between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a short circuit preventing portion for preventing a large-diameter conductive piece from causing a short circuit between the first electrode and the second electrode, where the large-diameter conductive piece has a larger dimension than the gap between the first electrode and the second electrode.

A method and system for diagnosing a condition of an engine is described herein. The method comprises obtaining a sample of lubricating fluid from the engine, filtering the sample to obtain a plurality of particles from the lubricating fluid, determining surface chemical compositions for the plurality of particles, comparing the surface chemical compositions to at least one reference chemical composition associated with corrosion of the engine, determining a level of corrosion of the engine based on the comparing, and diagnosing a condition of the engine based on the level of corrosion.

The present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning a 3D printed article, in particular a 3D printed heat exchanger. After 3D printing, an article may have internal passages formed from bonded powder and said passages may contain unbonded powder that needs to be removed before further use of/processing of the article. To remove this unbonded powder, the article is filled with a cleaning fluid and vibrated. The cleaning fluid is then pumped out of the article and past a sensor that generates a magnetic field. The sensor detects the presence of powder particles in the fluid by detecting a perturbation of the magnetic field caused by said particles. The fluid is then filtered and returned to a reservoir for use. The sensor may indicate the article is sufficiently clean when a detected concentration of particles in the fluid drops below a threshold.

There is provided mechanisms for deciding whether a bearing is faulty or not. A method is performed by a controller. The method comprises obtaining, as a measurement signal, metal particles counting data, where the metal particles counting data indicates number of metal particles present in lubrication oil of the bearing per time unit. The method comprises differentiating the measurement signal, resulting in a differentiated measurement signal. The method comprises deciding, depending on how large share of a probability density estimate of the differentiated measurement signal is above a threshold value, whether the bearing is faulty or not.

A device for detecting particles in a lubricating oil of a machine, comprising a particle separator; at least one particle detector; a bypass conduit for the particle-concentrating oil, fluidly connected to an oil outlet of the particle separator, concentrating the particles; and wherein the at least one particle detector is operatively mounted on the bypass conduit so as to be able to detect particles in the bypass conduit.

Methods and systems for failure prediction using analysis of oil or other lubricant. Raw data about feature(s) of each of a plurality of particles filtered from a fluid sample are used to categorize each particle into one of a plurality of categories, each category being defined by one or more of: chemical composition, size and morphology. Particle physical characteristics in each category are quantified to obtain a set of categorized data. The categorized data are compared with historical data. Results of the comparing are evaluated to generate a prediction of any failure or mechanism of failure.