Feasibility Study on Shear Horizontal Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors for Engine Oil Evaluation

On site monitoring of engine oil is required. The features of a shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) sensor include simultaneous detection of mechanical and electrical properties of liquids (such as viscosity, relative permittivity, and conductivity) and loaded mass on the sensor surface. In this paper, the used engine oil extracted from a motorbike was measured using the SH-SAW sensor. The degradation factors of the used engine oil were experimentally discussed. Especially, the influences of the particles in the engine oil, heating effect, and water contained in the engine oil were considered by comparing the differences between new and used engine oils. The results indicate that the influence of the water contained in the engine oil is the primary cause of the degradation of the used engine oil.