Research On The Condition Monitoring Of Locomotive Diesel Engines Based On Ferrography

There is a higher requirement for safe and reliable operation of mechanical equipment from the continuity and automation characteristics of modern production. It is required that Mechanical equipment have no accident, hidden faults be discovered in time, effective measures be adopted early to avoid any major accident. Railway locomotives have such kinds of characteristics. It is therefore full of practical significance and economic benefits to do fault diagnosis of locomotive diesel engines.Ferrography is used in this research to develop the running-in standards and monitor the operation condition of locomotive diesel engines. From the ferrograph monitoring analysis of the current running-in standards, the running-in effects and patterns are explored, the modification opinions about the running-in standards are put forward, the running-in experiments are made for the modified standards. The purpose is to find the new standards that can not only meet the running-in requirements but also reduce the running-in time. From the lubricant ferrograph analysis, the operation condition of locomotive diesel engines is monitored. The technical condition of diesel engines is determined based on the information from the ferrograph analysis and the diesel engine Condition. The abrasive particle characteristics and the wearing patterns are understood from the operation of a locomotive in Cefeng locomotive maintenance section.These observations are obtained from this research. (1) The current 330-minute running-in scheme for mid-term overhaul basically meets the requirements, but the running-in time is too long and can be reduced. (2) The 175-minute scheme is developed based on the low-to-high speed and the light-to-heavy load patterns.Experimental results have verified that the new scheme can meet running-in requirements for different situations and can be put into practice. (3) From the application of ferrography for the monitor of Dongfeng-4 locomotive diesel engine, the general condition of frictional pairs in the diesel engine can be determined according to the ferrograph information. There is a very good corresponding relationship between the predictive and practical conditions. The derived fault abrasive particle characteristics conform to the friction and wear principles. (4) The abrasive particle characteristics and wear patterns are basically understood for the application in Cefeng locomotive maintenance section. The operation number of kilometers can be extended for most locomotive diesel engines.