Novel Methodology Based on Thick Film Gas Sensors to Monitor the Hydraulic Oil Ageing

A new methodology for the real time monitoring of hydraulic oil aging based on the vapor analysis using metal oxide semiconductor (MOX) gas sensors has been successfully developed. A dedicated hydraulic test bench was designed and realized to age the oil under controlled condition. Gas chromatographic analyses were performed to detect oil volatile compounds (VOCs) and their concentrations at increasing oil working time. Moreover, a laboratory sensor system have been realized to test the headspace of the same samples. Both measurements highlighted a decrease of the VOCs concentrations.