A2 Technologies Extends its Revolutionary Range of Portable FT-IR Spectrometers for On-Site Lubrication Analysis

A2 Technologies, the innovator and manufacturer of the PAL Series of portable Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analyzers announces important new enhancements to its product line. Designed for on-site lubrication analysis of turbine generators, diesel engines, compressors, gearboxes and hydraulic systems in the power industry, the PAL systems are now able to accurately and precisely quantify the level of water in these oils in the range of 50 - 5000 ppm with accuracy of better than 5%.

This advance now permits the PAL systems to be as analytically effective as the gold standard Karl Fischer titration for measuring water in the aforementioned concentration range. The FTIR method is far less time consuming, requires no hazardous or expensive reagents and can be carried out on-site. The details of this procedure can be viewed online in an application brief entitled "On-site, Low Level Quantitative FTIR Analysis of Water in Oil Using a Novel Water Stabilization Technique (patent pending)".

In addition to measuring the water level in lubricants, the PAL system immediately yields the amount of oxidation and nitration by-products present and the amount of anti-oxidation, anti-wear and extreme pressure additives that remain in the lubricant. With this information, lubrication specialists and equipment maintenance personnel can make on-the-spot decisions about the condition of the all-important lubricating fluid.

Also, the PAL Series Microlab software has new features including the ability for users to overlay spectra for quick comparison of different oil samples and the ability to store the spectrum of unused oil as a reference for comparison to in-service oil as it ages. The Microlab software provides quantitative readouts for key lubricant parameters, allowing personnel to make immediate decisions about when oil needs replacing or refreshing.

FTIR has been an important technique for analyzing the condition of lubricants, but in the past it was necessary to collect samples and then transfer them to an off-site commercial testing laboratory for analysis.

Results might take days or even weeks to obtain while all the time the critical machinery could be subjected to wear from continuing lubricant breakdown. The revolutionary A2 Technologies' PAL on-site FTIR systems remove the need to analyze samples off-site and represent a significant advance for proactive maintenance of high value equipment.