Embedded oil analysis sensor implementation joint effort by Common Embedded Diagnostics (CED) and Army oil analysis program (AOAP)

The focus of this effort is to find a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS), in-line oil condition sensor suitable for use in Army tactical, wheeled and track vehicles. The inline oil condition sensor notify the soldier in the field that oil maintenance is required. The anticipated benefit is the reduction in labor hours for both the maintainer and AOAP lab personnel expended in drawing, shipping, and analyzing oil samples. The main thrust is to support the Army´s transition from reactive maintenance to proactive maintenance, from demand logistics to anticipatory logistics, and eventually from diagnostics to prognostics. The sensor visually notify the soldier by different colored lights when the condition of the oil merits changing due to depleted additives or out of tolerance total acid number merits testing due to contaminant detection, or simply merits replenishing due to low oil level is low. The sensor needed is self-calibrating and with built in memory for use in trend analysis. The output data is made available to the Army´s Surface Health Usage Monitoring System (SHUMS) for further analysis via one of the standard buses, such as J1708, 1553 or 1939. A cost analysis performed by the assistant product manager, Common Embedded Diagnostics (CED), office of the product manager, test measurement and diagnostic equipment (PM TMDE) is included.