Patent ID: 6295485
Filing Date: 2001-09-25
Classification: C10M

Abstract:
A method for selecting a lubricant base stock for use in manufacturing a lubricant for a particular application, the base stock being characterizable according to a plurality of compositional components common to a plurality of lubricant base stocks, each compositional component varying in amount with respect to the base stocks, the method comprising the steps of:identifying particular ones of the plurality of compositional components in a lubricant base stock that, in combination, are probative of lubricant performance for a plurality of applications;determining an acceptable range for a combination of the identified compositional components at at least two viscosities from a plurality of performance tests on a plurality of lubricant products, each lubricant product having a viscosity, the plurality of lubricant products having a plurality of different viscosities, thereby defining a compositional model at each of the at least two viscosities;adjusting for viscosity variations for lubricant base stocks whose viscosities differ from that of the at least two viscosities by adjustment of the compositional model's parameters from at least two compositional models at values of viscosity differing from those of a candidate lubricant base stock to derive an acceptable range of compositional components, in combination, at the viscosity of the candidate lubricant base stock;determining the amounts of the identified compositional components in a candidate lubricant base stock; anddetermining whether the amount of each identified component in the candidate base stock, in combination, is within the acceptable range for such identified components.