Patent ID: 7735362

Claim:
A method for diagnosing the health of a machine fluid by investigating an extent of degradation of the fluid due to contaminants in the fluid, comprising steps of: selecting a contaminant of interest, which is known to change a measured property of the fluid; detecting the presence of said contaminant in the fluid by: (a) heating a sample of fluid using a pseudo-adiabatic thermal stimulation through a range of temperature at which said contaminant changes said measured property of the fluid in comparison to the property of contaminant-free fluid with respect to said range of temperature; (b) sensing and measuring, a plurality of times, the property of the fluid through said range of temperature; (c) storing the property measurements as a function of said range of temperature and comparing said function to a function of the property values of contaminant-free fluid over said range of temperature; (d) identifying the anomaly in said range of temperature for detecting the presence of the contaminant; cooling the sample of fluid; repeating the detection steps (a)-(d); comparing the anomaly identified in repeated detections; and determining the current health of the fluid.