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Article
Capacitive Coulter Counting: Detection of Metal Wear Particles in Lubricant Using a Microfluidic Device
Smart Materials and Structures
  • Srinidhi Murali
  • Xingao Xia
  • Ashish V. Jagtiani, The University Of Akron
  • Joan Carletta, The University Of Akron
  • Jiang Zhe, University of Akron Main Campus
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Abstract

A microfluidic device based on the capacitance Coulter counting principle to detect metal debris particles in lubricant oil is presented. The device scans each individual metal debris particle as they pass through a microfluidic channel by monitoring the capacitance change. We first proved the feasibility of using the capacitance Coulter counting principle for detecting metal particles in a fluidic channel. Next, we tested the microfluidic device with aluminum abrasive particles ranging from 10 to 25 µm; the testing results show the microfluidic device is capable of detecting metal wear particles in low-conductive lubricant oil. The design concept demonstrated here can be extended to a device with multiple microchannels for rapid detection of metal wear particles in a large volume of lubricant oil.

Citation Information
Srinidhi Murali, Xingao Xia, Ashish V. Jagtiani, Joan Carletta, et al.. "Capacitive Coulter Counting: Detection of Metal Wear Particles in Lubricant Using a Microfluidic Device" Smart Materials and Structures Vol. 18 Iss. 3 (2009) p. 037001
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jaing_zhe/35/