A New Orbital Ball Type of Viscometer

Abstract

This paper describes a new orbital ball type of digital viscometer designed for use in maintenance departments to measure viscosity of lubricants and hydraulics. A steel ball placed in a small cup containing the test oil is caused to rotate around the inner wall of the cup by electromagnetic action. The speed of the ball is measured with a microcomputer and viscosity of the fluid is computed. The operator has the option of easily cleaning the cup, or discarding the cup and ball for little cost. Other advantages are low cost, ruggedness, small sample volume, wide range, high repeatability. Equations governing the operation are developed, and experimental results are presented. Temperature of the fluid is measured and results can be extrapolated to standard conditions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADP010179

Entities

People

  • Albert Abnett
  • Ray Garvey

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Gaps
  • Calibration
  • Equations
  • Equations Of Motion
  • Flow
  • Fluid Flow
  • Fluid Mechanics
  • Friction
  • Lubricants
  • Maglev
  • Magnetic Fields
  • Magnetic Flux
  • Magnetic Forces
  • Measurement
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Mechanics
  • Reynolds Number

Readers

  • Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics of Materials.
  • Petroleum Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster
  • Space - Satellites