Water in oil monitoring

EESIFLO’s EASZ-1 water in oil monitoring instrument is a compact in-line instrument to monitor the water content of lube and fuel oils. The EASZ-1 analyzer was originally developed to monitor the central lube oil system for paper machines. It is now used as a general monitoring tool for many critical industrial and marine applications such as Process industry central lubricating systems , Ship’s engine seals, pods and bow thrusters and Steel industry and power stations.

Because of water's destructive potential, it is important to recognize the three forms within which water exists in any given lube-oil or hydraulic system.Water may be present in a totally dissolved form as it is in solution.

Water may be emulsified which means water is partially dissolved in the lube-oil. Lube oils display different solubility characteristics that may be altered by additives to make water less soluble, hence, easily removed by coalescing techniques.

Water may be "free", in which case the dividing line between free-water and other water (dissolved or emulsified) is clearly evident. Free-water typically appears at the bottom of reservoirs or sample bottles.

Water can be removed from systems. Much depends on how water resides in the oil. Free and emulsified water is removable with water absorbing filter elements. Dissolved water is removable with vacuum distillation techniques and will provide maximum "dryness". Coalescing separators are designed to remove large amounts of system water at high flow rates .

Water content is best measured in a laboratory by the Karl Fischer test methods which are offered as part of most oil analysis reports. Such tests, however, report "total water" present in the sample without any segregation of the sample's three water forms - dissolved, emulsified or free. Great care must be taken in the selection of the appropriate water removal method.

Particle monitoring also plays an important role and most experts will agree that monitoring particle count and water content can be of utmost value in protecting machine systems. It has been known that particles can affect water detection instruments and it is possible that water in oil can affect some particle monitoring devices. For example, when using optical particle counters free water has been known to cause a rise in the number of large particles. If water is emulsified with oil the number of smaller particles may rise as well. Monitoring both water content and particles could confirm the influence of water in a given oil and at what levels of actual water content could give a permanent influence – for e.g 1000ppm

A permanent water in oil monitoring system (inline device) such as the EASZ-1 can play a major role in the determination of the machine, lube , mineral or synthetic oil state and as an additional but critical source of information and can play a major role in hydraulic system diagnostics . Preventative maintenance can be performed more intelligently with online monitoring. The device must be reliable, economical ,lightweight and maintenance free.

The EASZ-1 is an accurate and robust resistive capacitance meter measuring between two co-axis pipes. By applying a sinusoidal signal with a known amplitude and frequency to the inner pipe it is possible to measure the resistive capacitance of the liquid under test.

The EASZ-1 is fully temperature compensated and can be calibrated in the factory or on site to various oil types over certain temperature ranges. The device is loop powered and comes in standard 1inch NPT connections. Manufactured to full CE compliance and using the most updated electronic circuits coupled with an economically viable list price, the EASZ-1 serves the direct end users of hydraulic oil systems as well as consultants and OEM’s.

For further information on EESIFLO’s EASZ-1, please contact your local EESIFLO representative.