Testing and validating product is of paramount importance no matter what industry you are in, and this often requires specialized equipment and processes. When it comes to industrial lubricants, it is critical to ensure that these products will provide the advertised level of protection for the equipment to which they will be applied.
Viscosity is a key metric specifically for lubricants, which is defined as a measure of a fluid’s resistance to deformation at a given rate. In simple terms, viscosity is a fluid’s “thickness”.
This can get complicated when it comes to lubricants in high friction applications such as an automotive engine or a turbine spindle. As heat rises due to friction, a lubricant’s viscosity, and thus its wear protection, will decrease. Knowing how effective your grease will be at room temperature and in operation is critical for manufacturers and consumers alike.
Sigma Design recently developed a lubricant test machine for a global petroleum company, one of our valued customers, to measure changes in viscosity of grease over a several hour-long trial. This rotating equipment is loaded with large, greased bearings and spun at several hundred RPM. The equipment is designed to measure the resistance of the grease between a driven top-half and idler bottom-half of the bearing chamber. The resulting force is displayed on a simple and reliable analog gauge that can be viewed and logged throughout the test. Our equipment provides a simple solution to a crucial need.
Sigma Design has developed and built analytical, testing and validation equipment for dozens of our customers across a wide variety of industries. From consumer product testing to cellular research, Sigma Design has been a valued and trusted manufacturing partner of equipment for over 20 years.
