Gas sensors for monitoring hydraulic fluid conditions

In fluid power systems, the fluid conditions directly influence the proper system operation in terms of efficiency and reliability. Indeed, the unavoidable fluid degradation causes drops in machine efficiency and reliability up to system breakdown. Therefore, fluid conditions can be exploited as an indicator of the system health state in order to perform predictive maintenance, increasing system efficiency, reliability and sustainability. The real-time fluid monitoring becomes an essential task. For this purpose, a novel methodology based on fluid vapor analysis through nanostructured metal oxide gas sensors has been developed. This methodology combined with thick-film technology for sensors' realization offers the perfect solution to develop a real-time and online fluid sensor.