Patent ID: 7291836

Claim:
A method for determination of the lubricating oil consumption of an internal combustion engine, in which: the lubricating oil whose consumption is to be measured is labeled with a determined quantity of at least one radioactive tracer; downstream of the engine, the quantity of radioactive tracer(s) present in the gases emerging from the engine is measured; and the lubricating oil consumption of the engine is deduced therefrom; said method being one wherein the measurement of the quantity of radioactive lubricating oil tracer(s) present in the gases emerging from the engine comprises: bringing said gases in contact with a trap which can physically retain the radioactive tracer particles; with the aid of a detector sensitive to radiation emitted by the radioactive tracer(s) retained by the trap and placed at a distance therefrom allowing the emitted radiation to be measured, continuously, and while the engine is in use, measuring said radiation coming from the trap; and transmitting the measurements taken by said detector to a programmed computer which can convert said measurements into the lubricating oil consumption rate of the engine.