Launch of Electrical Lubricant Test Rig

Electric vehicle lubricants or e-fluids/greases must comply with more specifications compared to the conventional fluids/greases used in IC engine. A new generation of component test rigs relevant to fully electric vehicles (EV’s) have become essential for lubricants industry where most of its R&D spending is to compete and create value in EV’s market space. In this regard the Society of Tribology and Lubrication Engineers or STLE has organized an event (EV Conference) that gathers industrial and academic experts to share their views and experience on EV tribology. 

Ducom Instruments has invested in a new line of Electrical Lubricant Test Rigs (ELT's) that can address all the critical test parameters required for qualifying fluids and greases used in lubricating electric drive train components. When STLE EV committee approached us to share our views on ELTs, we got excited and to honor their request we planned to launch our High Speed Bearing Test Rig (see Figure 1) - a key product within Ducom ELT's. 

On Friday 5th November (session 5: Lubricant Testing for EVs), we will present our innovative product design of  two stage lubricated bearings that can be tested up to 30,000 rpm and at load up to 15 kN. Bearings can be lubricated with grease or oils, that can be heated up to 150 °C using our proprietary heat exchanger. Rotor dynamics and cooling system are key techniques to reduce its downtime and improve safety of the operator.

Electrical Lubricants Test Rig is the first in market that is aimed at creating high value lubricants for better performance of EV’s and empower the idea of reducing carbon emission through electrification.

We will elaborate on those techniques during the presentation. Each bearing station is embedded with smart sensors that capture the vibration, noise, bearing friction and temperature of the lubricated system. The sensor system is MOOHA-enabled: it completely automates the process of data collection, cloud storage, analytics, and reporting. Collectively they provide insight to e-grease or e-fluid performance (i.e. antiwear, thermal conductivity, friction and fatigue resistance). In the presentation, we will share a case study that describes the performance of few electrical lubricants that are widely used in electric motor and wheel hubs of battery-powered EV’s. 

E-Fluid電動(dòng)汽車潤(rùn)滑試驗(yàn)臺(tái)

與IC發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)中使用的常規(guī)流體/油脂相比，電動(dòng)汽車潤(rùn)滑油或電子流體/油脂必須符合更多的規(guī)范。新一代與全電動(dòng)汽車(EV)相關(guān)的零部件測(cè)試平臺(tái)已成為潤(rùn)滑油行業(yè)的重要組成部分，該行業(yè)的大部分研發(fā)支出都是為了在電動(dòng)汽車市場(chǎng)上競(jìng)爭(zhēng)并創(chuàng)造價(jià)值。在這方面，摩擦學(xué)與潤(rùn)滑工程師協(xié)會(huì)(STLE)組織了一場(chǎng)活動(dòng)(EV Conference)，聚集了行業(yè)和學(xué)術(shù)界的專家，分享他們?cè)陔妱?dòng)汽車摩擦學(xué)方面的觀點(diǎn)和經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

針對(duì)集成式電驅(qū)系統(tǒng)推出的專用潤(rùn)滑油，它不僅具備常規(guī)潤(rùn)滑油的功能，而且還具備良好的絕緣性能以保護(hù)驅(qū)動(dòng)箱內(nèi)的電路系統(tǒng)，同時(shí)還要兼具為電機(jī)散熱以及確保電路導(dǎo)線不被腐蝕等功效。顯然相比傳統(tǒng)的潤(rùn)滑油，對(duì)于電驅(qū)系統(tǒng)的潤(rùn)滑油具備更高的技術(shù)壁壘。為了保證油品的純凈性，電動(dòng)汽車采用了以天然氣為原料轉(zhuǎn)化的基礎(chǔ)油，相比石油裂化的產(chǎn)品，幾乎沒(méi)有雜質(zhì)，因此油液從外觀上來(lái)看，幾乎同純凈水無(wú)異。

Ducom Instruments公司投資開(kāi)發(fā)了一種新的電氣潤(rùn)滑測(cè)試設(shè)備(ELT’s)，該設(shè)備可以滿足潤(rùn)滑電氣傳動(dòng)系統(tǒng)部件所需的流體和潤(rùn)滑脂的所有關(guān)鍵參數(shù)的測(cè)試要求。當(dāng)STLE電動(dòng)汽車委員會(huì)找到我們分享我們對(duì)電動(dòng)軸承的看法時(shí)，我們很興奮，為了滿足他們的要求，我們計(jì)劃推出我們的高速軸承試驗(yàn)臺(tái)(見(jiàn)圖1)——這是Ducom電動(dòng)汽車試驗(yàn)臺(tái)的關(guān)鍵產(chǎn)品。

我們的創(chuàng)新產(chǎn)品設(shè)計(jì):兩級(jí)潤(rùn)滑軸承，可測(cè)試最高30,000 rpm和最高15 kN的負(fù)載。軸承可以用潤(rùn)滑脂或油潤(rùn)滑，使用我們專有的熱交換器可以加熱到150°C。轉(zhuǎn)子動(dòng)力學(xué)和冷卻系統(tǒng)是減少轉(zhuǎn)子停機(jī)時(shí)間、提高操作人員安全性的關(guān)鍵技術(shù)。

本套電動(dòng)潤(rùn)滑油試驗(yàn)臺(tái)是市場(chǎng)上第一個(gè)旨在創(chuàng)造高價(jià)值的潤(rùn)滑油，以提高電動(dòng)汽車的性能，并實(shí)現(xiàn)通過(guò)電氣化減少碳排放的理念。

產(chǎn)品的設(shè)計(jì)加入了這些技巧。每個(gè)軸承站都嵌入了智能傳感器，捕捉振動(dòng)、噪音、軸承摩擦和潤(rùn)滑系統(tǒng)的溫度。傳感器系統(tǒng)支持mooha:它完全自動(dòng)化了數(shù)據(jù)收集、云存儲(chǔ)、分析和報(bào)告的過(guò)程。總體而言，它們提供了對(duì)電子潤(rùn)滑脂或電子流體性能(即抗磨、導(dǎo)熱、摩擦和抗疲勞)的洞察。