Application of a Wear Debris Detection System to Investigate Wear Phenomena during Running-In of a Gasoline Engine

Abstract

When a tribological system is operated for the first time, the first hours of operation are of the utmost importance as the surfaces of the contacting elements mate to each other, involving significant wear processes until the surfaces reach stable topological characteristics. This initial phase in a combustion engine is known as running-in and is of critical importance in the study of friction and wear phenomena. Despite this, there is little information in the literature dedicated to running-in and, therefore, data improving its understanding is greatly anticipated. In this work, a novel wear debris detection system measuring in real time was employed to investigate the running-in of an inline 4-cylinder gasoline engine; it consists primarily of an optical sensor with the capability of detecting very small particles from 4 μm. For the tests, the engine was mounted on a test bench and operated under stationary working conditions. The results of the wear debris measurements showed interesting insights into the engine running-in process; although in general, the results followed the expected trend, they also showed an unexpected behavior: it was expected to obtain the highest amounts of wear debris at the beginning of the running-in, but instead the number of debris stagnated and only started to increase after about 20 h to then decrease again. The best operating conditions to run-in the engine were identified at the middle of the running-in period, without the presence of large wear debris that could lead to severe wear. Finally, it was found that the engine running-in was not finished until at least 75 h of operation, although commonly, a running-in time of 10 h is used in the industry.

Optimization of lubricating oil change intervals for marine internal combustion engines: algorithm research and design

“…Sudarant algoritmą būtina įtraukti ir detalizuoti tepimo alyvos savybes, kurios turi būti stebimos alyvos eksploatacijos metu. Pagrindinės tepimo alyvos savybės, kurios yra labai svarbios variklio eksploatacijai [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Variklių tepimo alyvoje gali būti įvairių metalo priemaišų, kurios atsiranda dėl variklio judančių dalių dilimo. Šių metalų rodiklius galima nustatyti atlikus laboratorinę tepimo alyvos analizę, kuri yra labai svarbi variklių techninės priežiūros dalis.…”

A Critical Review of On-Line Oil Wear Debris Particle Detection Sensors

“…High sensitivity, fast detection speed, and particle morphology analysis High cost, easily affected by oil discoloration and particle aggregation and unable to distinguish particle properties [92][93][94][95][96]…”

“…However, the analysis conducted by the researchers solely focused on spherical particles and did not take into account the evaluation of particles under actual flow conditions or the consideration of light source divergence. Bastidas et al employed an optical wear particle detection sensor with on-line measurement capabilities to identify the running-in condition of gasoline engines and evaluate the wear condition of critical component surfaces in 2023 [93]. The optical sensor demonstrates efficient detection capabilities for particles with a size of 4 microns or greater, operating at a maximum flow rate of 0.15 L/min.…”