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Today’s passenger cars provide a very long service interval. But
still regular oil changes in an engine help to protect the system
and pay off in the long run.
On the other hand this normally means that a lot of serviceable
oil is wasted. So far it is not possible to exactly predict when
oil will break down. Because of this, the monitoring of the oil
condition is becoming more important and current efforts are aimed
at developing systems to provide information on oil quality in
real time or, at least, to base predictions on specific, measurable
conditions. This task can only be reliably realized by means of
a sensor located in the harsh environment presented by the engine
oil. A reliable sensor for monitoring the condition of engine
oil will permit a just-in-time maintenance, and thus result in
savings of millions of liters of oil per year.
In addition it possible to monitor the oil condition to prevent
engine failures as a result of extreme driving conditions, e.g.
short trips only over a long period.
Oil condition sensors can provide a significant contribution to
the reduction of the running costs of the car. It can also protect
the environment through extended oil change intervals by considering
a person’s driving behaviour. Additionally, damage caused by oil
deterioration in engines can be prevented.
CMT has developed such a sensor in cooperation with leading automotive
supplier.
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