Since 2006, CPI Fluid Engineering, a division of the Lubrizol Corporation (a Berkshire Hathaway company), has used Cambridge Viscosity ViscoPro 1600 viscometers as an important research tool in their testing. Recently, they built a new testing apparatus with expanded measurement capabilities.
CPI commissioned a project to engineer, design, and build new testing equipment to increase their compressor lubrication testing capability and capacity. To complete the work, they leveraged their parent company’s resources by working with the Lubrizol headquarters Wickliffe, Ohio Test Cell Engineering team. A benchtop temperature cycling chamber measuring 19” x 15” x 24” was ordered before the apparatus was designed, so the engineers faced their first challenge to engineer test equipment that fit into a very tight compartment.
The second challenge came in the form of accommodating a wide testing range at potentially high pressures. As part of refrigerant lubricant testing, CPI routinely measures pressure, viscosity, temperature, and flow. Because lubricants can be exposed to a wide range of temperatures, testing procedures typically cycle between 130 and -20 °C, with the new capability allowing a -40 to
180 °C range.
With the range of refrigerants including potentially volatile gases like methane, for example, the equipment has to safely handle a large range of pressures from vacuum to thousands of psi.
CPI Fluid Engineering choose Cambridge Viscosity to engineer a solution that would fit their specific requirements. Click to read the full story of how Cambridge Viscosity went above and beyond to deliver a customized ViscoPro 2100. (No contact information needed to download.
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