Smart just got smarter with Filtertechnik’s new Particle Pal Life

18 July, 2018

Rechargeable battery

Particle Pal Life comes complete with a rechargeable battery, giving 3 to 6 hours of continual use (depending on oil viscosity).

Wide range of applications

In both hydraulic and lubrication systems, knowing the particulate cleanliness and water content data can prevent serious system failure and component damage. Traditionally, samples are taken and sent off to laboratories for analysis, often an expensive and time-consuming practice. The new Particle Pal Life enables engineers to assess their oil’s condition quickly including an indication of the remaining life of their oil.

Particle Pal Life is suitable for use in a wide range of applications, including: power generation, off-road mining and construction, wind power, hydraulic and marine.

Also available – the FS9V2

Particle Pal Life is part of a family of products. The FS9V2 Particle Pal provides instant cleanliness readings to allow users to fully understand the condition of their oils and diesel fuels. A self-contained system, complete with integral pump and controlled flow rate.

Survey

Richard Price, managing director of Filtertechnik, commented: “A survey of over 20,000 oil samples showed that the vast majority of oil changes without oil analysis would be conducted at the wrong time – by following OEM recommendations rather than by analysis of the oil’s ability to continue working and in most cases before the oil’s life was fully depleted [Source: learnoilanalysis.com]. This is largely why the use of a reliable oil condition sensor, particle counter and water sensor is invaluable.”

He continued: “Although the 500 oil types and profiles built into the Particle Pal Life is a substantial number, it is of course only a fraction of what is available on the market. Indeed, certain oils are not on the existing database of the system because some suppliers and OEMs source a standard oil and rebrand it before providing to their customers. This is why we have built a self-profiling capability into the kit. Therefore, users can simply run virgin oil through a heat cycle for about 10 to 15 minutes, all components to perform this self-calibration routine are included in the kit. Users can then create their own profile for that oil and determine its approximate life. We have tested this function extensively in laboratories and it has been proven to be very accurate. And because Particle Pal Life comes with self-calibration functionality and is able to combine particulate water and oil life within a single highly portable kit – this combination is a world-first.”

R&D

Price explained that Filtertechnik invested a lot of R&D time and resources developing the very best software and circuit board for the new product, as well as sourcing the very best sensors; most of which, incidentally, have been designed and built in the UK. “We wanted to ensure the software could communicate in the most reliable and effective way with the circuit board and also wanted to ensure the circuit board and software was able to communicate perfectly with the sensor,” he said. “Different sensors often talk different languages – some are 4 to 20mA, some are Modbus, some are CAN bus, some are RS485, for example – so we had to overcome various technical challenges when developing the circuit board to ensure communication with the various sensors wouldn’t be an issue. With our new Particle Pal Life we have more than achieved this goal.”

www.filtertechnik.co.uk