Fully Realizing Benefits of Autonomous Systems via Online Oil Condition Monitoring

Autonomy is increasing. Beyond self-driving cars, other sectors such as mining, agriculture and defense are rapidly implementing autonomous systems to increase production, accuracy and/or safety. The U.S. militaryÆs investments to remove pilots, operators, and crew from current and future military vehicles not only increase safety of our military personnel, but also promises to offer extended mission durations that would far exceed human capabilities. However, increased autonomy and mission durations means an increased reliance on real-time sensor data to make informed decisions on maintenance needs.Ā To increase mission availability & duration, and decrease sustainability costs, Poseidon Systems LLC (Poseidon) proposes use of its on-line fluid quality sensing systems to improve the ArmyÆs autonomous platforms by giving maintainers the ability to quickly identify the vehicles in need of an oil change and those that can handle additional missions before service while simultaneously drastically reducing the need forĀperiodic sampling. Poseidon has developed a suite of sensors for monitoring fluid health, tracking contamination levels, and alerting maintainers to the need for lubrication or mechanical system maintenance. During the proposed effort, Poseidon shall demonstrate an integrated online engine and transmission lubricant monitor system combining oil condition and wear debris sensors to reduce O&M costs and increase vehicle availability. Poseidon will leverage existing oil sensors, analysis, and domain knowledge built upon 20+ years of R&D. Experiences include TRL9 pilot with major oil company resulting in EPA approval to replace offline oil analysis and over 10,000 deployments on wind gearboxes.