Novelty Sensor for Detection of Wear Particles in Oil Using Integrated Microwave Metamaterial Resonators With Neodymium Magnets

Sensors for detecting wear particles in fluid lubricants have been widely studied owing to their ability to diagnose mechanical machine conditions and to help in preventing mechanical failures caused by wear particles or contamination particles. The proposed novelty sensor was fabricated using photolithography to make the complementary split ring resonator (CSSR) on PCB and it utilized neodymium magnets at the center of the CSRR structure to attract ferrous wear particles. The proposed sensor was tested, and we found that it is highly sensitive and could detect 50 ppm of ferrous wear particles larger than $10 \mu \text{m}$ dissolved in mineral white oil ISO VG 15. The sensor of this article has a low-cost and can be used in different situations to measure the ferrous wear particles while monitoring the real-time mechanical equipment wear, as it can be easily integrated into them. The sensor offers good accuracy, and is insensitive to fluid transparency and bubble formation, unlike other sensors for detection of wear particles. Therefore, the proposed novelty sensor of this work is in line with Industry 4.0, which requires many low-cost sensors for continuous monitoring to apply predictive maintenance techniques for extending the lifespan of infrastructures.