Petroleum and Lubricating Oil Testing

Oil Condition Monitoring (OCM) or TÜV SÜD PSB’s OilTest is a testing programme that helps industry and transport operators save money and reduce machine breakdown, through the analysis of oil and the diagnosis of its test results. OCM is suitable for all rotating or circulating equipment, e.g. engines, compressors, hydraulic systems, electrical oil systems, gear units, turbines (gas and steam), large grease lubricated bearings, heat transfer and heat treatment systems. 
 
Services

• The standard suite of tests for each type of engine or machine with three levels of monitoring are:
  1. Basic: a low price but cost effective service to pick up most common problems
  2. Extended: for companies wanting to monitor a wider range of parameters and where a higher cost can be sustained (for example more expensive equipment)
  3. Advanced: includes some specialist metallurgical and microscopic tests used in failure analysis and other high end engineering applications.
• Related tests, whether run on-site or in the laboratory, include cleanliness tests on fluids such as hydraulic oils where the quality can be critical and filtration performance quality controls for those who have adopted regular oil filtration programmes. 
• Tests that may be employed:
  1. Appearance
  2. Spectrochemical Analysis (ICP-OES) (Wear metals, Contaminants & Additives)
  3. Viscosity
  4. Water Content
  5. Total Acid Number/Total Base Number
  6. Flash Point
  7. Sooty Insolubles (Soot content) / Dispersancy
  8. Oxidation/Nitration Products
  9. Glycols
  10. Particle Count / Cleanliness
  11. Fuel Dilution
  12. Ferrous Debris
  13. Analytical Ferrography
  14. SEM-EDX analysis of particles or debris