Lubrication Monitoring of Roller Chains via Contactless Temperature Measurement

Abstract

An appropriate lubrication of roller chains is of great significance for their life expectancy. Considering economical and ecological aspects, a minimal but still sufficient application of lubricant is desirable. A prerequisite for this is, however, a reliable determination of the current lubrication state of the chain. This paper presents a series of experiments in which three chains with increasing wear progression were tested on a chain test rig at different lubrication levels while the chain temperature was measured with contactless infrared thermometers. All chains show a significant dependency of the chain temperature on the lubrication level, this influence grows with increasing wear. Simultaneously, the influence of chain wear on the chain temperature is significantly smaller. The results show that measuring the chain temperature with contactless infrared thermometers offers a simple and cost-efficient option to monitor the lubrication state of roller chains.