Capacitive Sensor for in situ Measurement of Deterioration of Car Engine Oil

A coil-type capacitive sensor on which the deterioration of the car engine oil can be in situ measured, has been developed. The sensor was designed to get over 10 pF at the limited space on the drain hole of the oil pan. The design factors for stable capacitance measurement such as coil diameter and winding condition, materials and configuration of the coil former, and shielding method, etc., were known by both computer simulation and experimental investigations. The dielectric properties measured by several sensors for an used sample oil were consisted within 0.25%. The sensor installed on the car having severe vibration, temperature and humidity fluctuation, even electromagnetic noise, has shown very distinguishable results.