RICHLAND, Wash. - While determination may have been enough to get up the mountain in the children's book, "The Little Engine That Could," the railroad industry soon will have a much more sophisticated tool to help ensure engine maintenance is on track.
Technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with LRC Northwest, of Richland, Wash., will provide equipment owners valuable information about an engine?s condition without having to take the locomotive out of service.
On-Board Intelligent Lubrication Prognostics, or OILPro, eliminates the need for the costly and time-consuming process of taking locomotives out of service to obtain oil samples, sending the samples to a laboratory for analysis and waiting days or even weeks for results. Instead, OILPro brings the lab to the equipment.
Pacific Northwest has licensed LRC Northwest to market OILPro to the railroad industry. The technology is expected to be available commercially in early 2000.
"Testing engine oil isn?t a new concept. What's new is how OILPro will provide the same data, on demand, while the train is en route and offer remote access to results," said Bary Wilson, Pacific Northwest's project manager for the development of OILPro. The idea for on-board oil testing grew from and complements another Pacific Northwest research and development project, Turbine Engine Diagnostics using Artificial Neural Networks, or TEDANN. This prototype engine health monitoring and prognostics system is being studied for possible applications with gas turbine engines on the Army?s M1 Abrams main battle tank.
OILPro can monitor oil conditions 24 hours a day, every day. It will allow for testing on demand and provide automatic notification if conditions meet or exceed pre-determined limits. Reports about the oil's viscosity, the presence of wearing metals or water in oil, the oil condition and particulate contamination will be sent to LRC Northwest's information management center where the data will be processed.
LRC will provide its customers with trends in data, interpretation capabilities and maintenance advisories, helping protect diesel engines in equipment worth at least half a million dollars each.
"We're really excited about delivering real-time information that will extend engine life as well as reduce or even eliminate major engine failures," said Randy Peterson, president of LRC. "Just like blood testing helps people live better lives, OILPro will help equipment live longer and better lives too. This is going to give companies a chance to reduce their cost of doing business like nothing I've seen."
LRC will manufacture OILPro at its Richland research and development facility, which opened in 1998, using some suppliers and sub-contractors from the local area. "We're confident that the success of OILPro will generate a completely new manufacturing base for the Tri-Cities, which will create many new jobs and help diversify the local economy," said Kingdon Gould, LRC project manager.
Potential applications for OILPro reach far beyond the railroad industry. Pacific Northwest is pursuing opportunities to market the technology for use on ships, trucks and planes. LRC will manufacture OILPro locally for these other industrial applications as well.
Pacific Northwest is one of DOE's nine multiprogram national laboratories and conducts research in the fields of environment, energy, health sciences and national security. Battelle, based in Columbus, Ohio, has operated Pacific Northwest for DOE since 1965.
LRC is a private company experienced in all facets of rebuilding and remanufacturing railroad, construction and mining equipment. The company also has extensive experience in research and development, prototype development, routine maintenance and conversions.
For general inquiries on Pacific Northwest technologies, email inquiry@pnl.gov or call 1-888-375-PNNL.