SGS Analytics United Kingdom Limited
Oil & Fuel
Oil & Fuel
Oil & Fuel testing for marine, air, transportation and power businesses that require testing of lubricants and fuels as part of their maintenance and emissions systems.
SGS Analytics United Kingdom Limited
Your Business
Your Business
Road & Rail Transport
Your vehicle fleet is your most significant investment and with increasing fuel costs and decreasing profit margins, keeping your equipment at peak performance can be the difference between profit and loss.
Marine & Shipping
Vessel owners and operators must ensure their vessel(s) remain on schedule and afloat.
Construction, Mining & Industrial
Loss of production at a manufacturing facility or mining site because of failed equipment can cost thousands of pounds per hour.
Power Generation
Every single industry requires power to operate. You may have a backup diesel generator, but this too needs to be in good condition so it works when it matters most.
Power Distribution
Transformers and oil filled insulating systems are usually large investments and provide the most important aspect to the majority of all industries.
Road & Rail Transport
Your vehicle fleet is your most significant investment and with increasing fuel costs and decreasing profit margins, keeping your equipment at peak performance can be the difference between profit and loss. SGS’s Lubetrend programme helps keep your vehicles running efficiently and saves you money.
How we can help
- Reduce vehicle downtime
- Identify excessive fuelling.
- Reduce your overall Carbon Footprint – Contact techservice@alcontrol.com to find out how
- Reduce unnecessary oil changes
- Extend oil drain intervals – reducing lubricant costs & waste production
- Identify poor fuel and fuel contamination issues
- Verify Adblue supply quality
- Independent analysis in warranty cases to identify the root cause of failure
- Confirmation engine oil meets its new oil specification
Types of Analysis
- Lubricated systems: Detecting contamination, confirming suitability of the lubricant, monitoring wear metals and identify root causes of problems before they lead to a failure. Systems monitored include engine, transmission, gear/axle, power-steering and brake fluids.
- Fuel Systems: Test Diesel to full road diesel specifications with various custom test suites, Including identification of contaminants such as petrol, water and microbes.
- Adblue Systems – Confirm your adblue meets the ISO 22241-2 and DIN V70070. Identify contamination with tap water, coolant, screen-wash, supply issues.
- Coolant Systems – Anti-freeze, in addition to preventing freezing, has an important role of cooling the engine and protecting it from corrosion. If your engine oil is not lasting as long as it should, or your engine is running hot, the coolant condition may be a good place to start.
Marine & Shipping
Vessel owners and operators must ensure their vessel(s) remain on schedule and afloat. SGS global logistic network, combined with its testing and oil condition diagnostics expertise, instils the confidence you need. Our World Class Fuel Oil section are able to analyse and report your bunkered sample within 24hrs of receipt, ensuring the product meets specification.
How we can help
- Reduce vessel downtime
- Identify excessive fuelling
- Reduce unnecessary oil changes
- Identify poor fuel supplies and contamination
- Reduce your overall Carbon Footprint
- Extend oil drain intervals – reducing lubricant costs & waste production
- Independent analysis in warranty cases to identify the root cause of failure
Types of Analysis
- Lubricated systems: Detecting contamination, confirming suitability of the lubricant, monitoring wear metals and identify root causes of problems before they lead to a failure. Systems monitored include Emergency Engines, Scrape-down systems, Stern-tubes, Bow thrusters, Crane Hydraulics, Control Pitch Propellers, Remote Control Valves and Thermal Oils
Lubetrend is an exceptionally powerful tool for you to use to access your results, trend data and control your entire proactive maintenance programme with a few simple mouse clicks. Below are some of the key features of the Lubetrend System:
- Full on-line & Mobile App access to data & trending, with sample registration available
- Compare system performance across all your assets
- Gather data by make, model, oil brand & grade, site reference & any other field recorded
- Multiple download options available for onward reporting flexibility
Construction, Mining & Industrial
Loss of production at a manufacturing facility or mining site because of failed equipment can cost thousands of pounds per hour.
How we can help
- Reduce machine downtime
- Identify excessive fuelling
- Reduce unnecessary oil changes
- Reduce your overall Carbon Footprint – Contact: techservice@alcontrol.com to find out how.
- Extend oil drain intervals – reducing lubricant costs & waste production.
- Identify poor fuel and Adblue supplies and contamination.
- Independent analysis in warranty cases to identify the root cause of failure.
Types of Analysis
- Lubricated systems: Monitor contamination, wear metals and identify root causes of problems before they lead to failure of your system. We can test engine, hydraulic, transmission, swing boxes, differentials, greased bearings etc.
- Fuel Systems: Test Diesel to full road diesel and off-road mobile machinery specifications with various custom test suites. Identify petrol, water, microbes, contaminated on site bulk storage tanks etc.
- Adblue Systems: Some newer machines may now have adblue systems fitted. Confirm your adblue meets the ISO 22241-2 and DIN V70070. Identify contamination with tap water, coolant, screen-wash, supply issues.
- Coolant Systems: Your anti-freeze doesn’t just stop your coolant system freezing, it also has an important role in cooling the engine. If your engine oil is not lasting as long as it should be, or your engine is running hot, then confirming the coolant condition may be a good place to start.
Power Generation
Every single industry requires power to operate. You may have a backup diesel generator, but this too needs to be in good condition so it works when it matters most. Power-stations, Gas engine and wind farms operators can’t afford to stop generating power – it is simply not an option. SGS’s Lubetrend analysis monitors engines, gearboxes, turbines, transformers and any lubricated systems.
How we can help
- Reduce downtime by identifying contamination and faults early…allowing for planned maintenance to correct any identified faults at a time convenient to you.
- Reduce your overall Carbon Footprint – Contact techservice@alcontrol.com to find out how.
- Extend oil drain intervals – reducing lubricant costs & waste production.
- Confirmation engine oil meets its new oil specification
- Independent analysis in warranty cases to identify the root cause of the equipment failure.
- Identify oil properties such as water shedding potential, foaming tendency, rusting prevention characteristics, varnish potential and remaining lubricant life to help you maximise your oil life and save money.
Types of Analysis
- Lubricated systems: Detecting contamination, confirming suitability of the lubricant, monitoring wear metals and identify root causes of problems before they lead to a failure. Systems monitored include engine, hydraulics, turbines (gas, steam & wind), and greased bearings.
- Fuel Systems: Test Diesel to full road diesel and off-road mobile machinery specifications with various custom test suites. Identify petrol, water, microbes and contaminated on site diesel bulk storage tanks.
- Coolant Systems – Anti-freeze, in addition to preventing freezing, has an important role of cooling the engine and protecting it from corrosion. If your engine oil is not lasting as long as it should, or your engine is running hot, the coolant condition may be a good place to start.
Power Distribution
Transformers and oil filled insulating systems are usually large investments and provide the most important aspect to the majority of all industries – power.
Summary
Unexpected downtime of a Transformer at any point in the network leads to major service delays and costs to you and your customers. SGS’s Transcheck© Service changes your maintenance schedule from re-active to pro-active by identifying faults up to 4 years before failure. SGS’s ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, has over 30 years of experience in Transformer Oil analysis and diagnostics. Lubetrend© combined with our expert diagnostic team has propelled Transcheck to the forefront of Transformer condition monitoring.
Our specially designed analysis packages will test the oil condition to the highest standard (EN60422) and our Dissolved Gas Analysis method (ASTM D3612) detects and monitors fault gases enabling us to predict faults up to 4 years in advance of failure.
How we can help
- Reduce Transformer downtime
- Identify excessive overheating and overloading within the transformer
- Identify Arcing within the transformer
- Detect loose connections and badly butted joints
- Alerts you to possible paper insulation embrittlement
- Diagnose Tap-Changer problems e.g. burning contacts
Types of Analysis
- Routine: Monitor contamination, water content, acidity and dielectric strength of transformer oil to identify root causes of problems before they lead to failure of your system.
- DGA: Dissolved Gas Analysis is a must have tool to ensure your equipment remains in peak condition. By looking at concentrations of specific combustible gases then applying various diagnostic tools to identify fault conditions within the system.
- PCB – These are synthetic chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons which have excellent thermal and electrical properties. However, this stability has made them resistant to biodegradation and is a cause for concern to the environment. The use of PCB's was banned in 1986 however due to common handling facilities this has led to widespread contamination. PCB content in new equipment should be measured to confirm it is PCB free before waste disposal.
Additional tests include:
- Furan content
- Resistivity
- PCB
- Interfacial Tension
- Oil Cleanliness
- Estimated Degree of Polymerisation
- Corrosive Sulphur
- Particles
- Pour Point
- Density
- Viscosity
- DDB Conc
- Oxidation Inhibition
- Fibres (EN50353)
- Refractive Index
- Aromatics (FTIR)
- Flash Point
- DBDS
SGS Analytics United Kingdom Limited
Our Focus Areas
Our Focus Area
Oil Condition Monitoring
SGS oil analysis monitors your machinery health to give you confidence to act.
Transformer Analysis
Transformers and oil filled insulating systems are usually large investments and provide the most the important aspect to the majority of all industries – POWER.
Engine Coolants and Adblue
SGS’s engine coolant analysis programme allows you to monitor the condition…
Filters, Ferrographics & Investigation
Our investigative chemists also offer specialist investigations on filters, sludges, debris and deposits.
Oil Condition Monitoring
SGS oil analysis monitors your machinery health to give you confidence to act. In each case the machinery represents a significant investment and is often critical that it remains operational. Failure of the machinery can result in loss of production, with costs sometimes at thousands of pounds an hour. If your business was suddenly unable to provide its services or manufacture its product, imagine the damage it could do to your business and your customers’ confidence in you to deliver on time.
- Condition Based Maintenance – Improve your Maintenance Strategy and Save money with SGS
SGS enables you to change your maintenance strategy from reactive to proactive meaning we give you confidence to act. Often lubricating oil is changed at set intervals regardless of condition of the oil or system. This may be based on operational hours, mileage or time period and is called preventative maintenance. However, most of the time the oil and unit may be in a good condition and not only does it waste money in new oil, the process of an oil change can actually introduce contamination into your system that can cause wear and failure of your machinery. There are 4 main maintenance strategies that a business may choose to use. These include:
- Reactive – run the equipment to failure / fault. There are few circumstances where this is a viable option, but only valid when components are cheap and quick to replace or the equipment is not critical.
- Preventative – replacing components or changing oil at set intervals. This is better than Reactive as it uses statistics to predict when equipment typically fails or when oil typically comes to the end of its life and the operator makes the replacement before this period. The disadvantage with this system is it does not take into consideration the true condition of the machinery or oil. This leads to oil and components being replaced too early and can be very wasteful. More importantly, it does not identify the machinery that will fail earlier than statistically predicted, nor does it identify the cause of any wear taking place.
- Predictive> – analysing the unit for abnormal wear processes. This can be done by oil analysis as well as other none destructive testing methods such as vibration, thermography and Acoustics. Oil analysis can identify different components wearing abnormally because different parts of the system are made of different metal alloys, each with its distinctive signature. This maintenance strategy can identify evidence of wear in a unit, such as piston wear in an engine or gear teeth wear in gearbox, and can allow repair work to be carried out before a failure occurs. This does not identify why the failure/fault happened in the first place.
- Proactive> – This is what sets oil analysis apart from the other predictive maintenance strategies because it is both predictive and proactive, identifying the root cause of the problem before the onset of wear. For example the machinery may also show evidence of dirt ingress, which can be detected and identified as a fault with the air induction system / seals. SGSs proactive and predictive programme identifies the root cause and allows you to correct this at a planned and convenient point.
See how much your maintenance strategy is costing you using the relative maintenance costs below and see how SGS can save you money?
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Experience – SGS are the Benchmark in Oil analysis
Our quality and auditing processes are at highest laboratory industry levels and we have the highest levels of laboratory accreditation with ISO 17025, ISO 14001 and ISO 18436 meaning SGS is the lab you can trust with your machinery SGS are independent and not tied to any OEM or oil company meaning that your report is truly independent.. SGS process thousands of samples per day from equipment just like yours at our state-of-the- art condition monitoring laboratory and our diagnostician team has a wealth of experience in monitoring, trending and giving advice on all types of lubricated, insulating, fuel, coolant and Adblue systems.
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Trending analysis – unique to each piece of machinery
Everyone is different, and so is your machinery. What is normal for one machine may be critical for another. That is why SGS use trending on all lube oil samples to establish what is normal for the machinery and apply custom limits to each individual unit. Regular sampling of your equipment allows you to establish trends and identify problems early on. Since we do not only trend wear metals (predictive) and we also monitor fluid condition and contamination sources we can identify causes of wear before they even cause wear – all this without the need for a crystal ball.
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Branding – Give added value to your customers and introduce new revenue schemes
If you do not recognise the name SGS or Lubetrend with regards to oil analysis this means we are doing a very good job for our customers as you may not have even realise our laboratory performed the analysis. Our white labelling of our website and report options allows you to brand our oil analysis with your livery giving better customer relations to your customers. Currently there are over 300 different brands of oil analysis with our customers’ livery that are all tested at our laboratory. Why not contact SGS about our branding options and how we have help you build your business using SGS’s analysis
Transformer Analysis
Unexpected downtime of a Transformer at any point in the network leads to major service delays and costs to you and your customers. SGS’s Transcheck© Service helps change your maintenance schedule from re-active to pro-active by identifying faults up to 4 years before failure. SGS’s ISO 17025 accredited laboratory, has over 35 years of experience in Transformer Oil analysis and diagnostics. Lubetrend© combined with our expert diagnostic team has propelled Transcheck to the forefront of Transformer condition monitoring. Our specially designed analysis packages will test the oil condition to the highest standard (EN60422) and our Dissolved Gas Analysis method (ASTM D3612) detects and monitors fault gases enabling us to predict faults up to 4 years in advance of failure.
How we can help
- Reduce Transformer downtime.
- Identify excessive overheating and overloading within the transformer.
- Identify Arcing within the transformer.
- Detect loose connections and badly butted joints.
- Alerts you to possible paper insulation embrittlement.
- Diagnose Tap-Changer problems e.g. burning contacts.
Types of Analysis
- Routine: Monitor contamination, water content, acidity and dielectric strength of transformer oil to identify root causes of problems before they lead to failure of your system.
- DGA: Dissolved Gas Analysis is a must have tool to ensure your equipment remains in peak condition. By looking at concentrations of specific combustible gases then applying various diagnostic tools to identify fault conditions within the system.
- PCB – These are synthetic chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons which have excellent thermal and electrical properties. However, this stability has made them resistant to biodegradation which is a cause for concernn. The use of PCB's was banned in 1986 however due to common handling facilities this has led to widespread contamination. PCB content in new equipment should be measured to confirm it is PCB free before waste disposal.
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Experience - SGS are the benchmark in Transformer Oil Analysis
Our quality and auditing processes are at highest laboratory industry levels and we have the highest levels of laboratory accreditation with ISO 17025, ISO 14001 and ISO 18436 meaning SGS is the lab you can trust with your machinery SGS are independent and not tied to any OEM or oil company meaning that your report is truly independent.
-
Branding - Give added value to your customers and introduce new revenue schemes
If you do not recognise the name SGS or Lubetrend with regards to oil analysis this means we are doing a very good job for our customers as you may not have even realise our laboratory performed the analysis. Our white labelling of our website and report options allows you to brand our oil analysis with your livery giving better customer relations to your customers. Why not contact SGS about our branding options and how we have help you build your business using SGS’s analysis.
Engine Coolants and Adblue
Engine Coolant Analysis
SGS’s engine coolant analysis programme allows you to monitor the condition of your cooling system, detect corrosion inhibition properties of the coolant and detect signs of corrosion or incorrect glycol (anti-freeze) levels. It may come as a surprise that although coolant is often referred to as anti-freeze its role in preventing the coolant freezing at low temperatures is only half the story. In fact, just as important role is the prevention of the coolant boiling when at high temperatures, in which boiling can cause pinhole sized bores through an engine liner and lead to a coolant leak. Therefore, it is important to regularly check your coolant with SGS to best protect your machinery. Our typical categories of customers include: Vehicle owners & Warranty (Automotive, construction, Marine etc) - Coolant analysis is often requested as part of a complete engine health check of engine oil, fuel, coolant and Ablue analysis and all are sampled routinely on warranty cases to ensure only valid warranty claims are paid out. It is not uncommon for Adblue and coolant to be mixed up by an operator filling the vehicle tanks, which can lead to a corroded coolant system and poisoned Catalyst brick; therefore, if any failure in these systems both the Adblue and coolant should be sampled.
Adblue/DEF Analysis
Adblue is an extremely pure 32.5% solution of urea in water and is injected into the exhaust system to remove Nitrogen oxide compounds such as NO and NO2 (commonly termed NOx ) which are a large contributor to acid rain. Many truck and agricultural engines are now fitted with NOX sensors to monitor emissions and require the Adblue system to deliver Adblue to remove these compounds. A regular testing programme is necessary to monitor poor quality, as contaminated Adblue can poison catalytic converters. Leading to illegal emissions of NOX gases SGS test Adblue to the full ISO 22241-2 and DIN V70070 specifications related to Adblue/DEF. products Our typical categories of customers include: Suppliers – As a relatively new technology Adblue is very prone to contamination, which can damage catalysts. It is critical for all Adblue suppliers to have an independent laboratory continuously verify the quality of their product to build customer confidence and gain OEM approvals. Vehicle owners & Warranty (Automotive, construction, Marine etc) – With recent updates in regulations agricultural and road haulage equipment now require Adblue on certain tiers of engine requests for Adblue analysis increase continuously. It is not uncommon for Adblue and coolant to be mixed up by an operator filling the vehicle tanks, which can lead to a corroded coolant system and poisoned Catalyst brick; therefore, if any failure in these systems both the Adblue and coolant should be sampled.
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Experience – SGS are the Benchmark in Analysis
Our quality and auditing processes are at pharmaceutical industry levels and we have the highest levels of laboratory accreditation with ISO 17025, ISO 14001 and ISO 18436 meaning SGS is the lab you can trust with your machinery. SGS have been integral in identifying and proving which properties of poor quality Adblue can lead to failure in our customers vehicles, in identifying sources of contamination on entire fleets of vehicles and identifying causes of early technology problems in Adblue delivery systems. Our experts Chemists have been in regular contact with key OEMs with regards to Adblue testing and progressing this technology further.
Put simply - You cannot be in safer hands than with SGS. SGS give you confidence to act!
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Branding – Give added value to your customers and introduce new revenue schemes
If you do not recognise the name SGS with regards to oil analysis this means we are doing a very good job for our customers as you may not have even realise our laboratory performed the analysis. Our white labelling of our website and report options allows you to brand our oil analysis with your livery giving better customer relations to your customers Why not contact SGS about our branding options and how we have help you build your business using SGSs analysis.
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Variable Tiers of Testing
For some situations you require testing of the full specification of a the Adblue standard e.g. if you are a Adblue supplier, but in samples from customers machinery in most situations many of these tests are unlikely to ever fail based on the strict quality procedures the suppliers adhere to, in cases where there is suspected contamination with dirt, screen wash, oil, fuel, Adblue in coolant/coolant in adblue, a more customised test suite is more practical and affordable.
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Levels of testing
As SGS also have dedicated water labs the levels of testing that can be performed on water based products such as coolant or adblue surpass any condition monitoring only laboratory’s technology meaning SGS have all the equipment of a dedicated SGS water lab to support the condition monitoring team on complex coolant and Adblue investigations.
Filters, Ferrographics & Investigation
Our investigative chemists also offer specialist investigations on filters, sludges, debris and deposits. There is no default test suite for these test suites as they can be so varied and it is usually based on a question from the client. The technical chemist will then decide on which tests are required to answer the clients questions.
Typical questions can usually be split into two main categories:
- Identification questions – Identifying a material for a client that has entered or formed in their system
- What is this material?
- Are these two materials the same?
- Which one of these materials is the contaminant?
- Cause – discovering why the equipment has failed or has running problems
- Why has my machine failed?
- Why has my filter blocked?
- My customers Machine has failed. Is this a valid warranty claim?
Benefits of Investigation analysis with SGS
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Experience – SGS are the Benchmark in Investigation analysis
Our quality and auditing processes are at pharmaceutical industry levels and we have the highest levels of laboratory accreditation with ISO 17025, ISO 14001 and ISO 18436 meaning SGS is the lab you can trust with your machinery. SGS process thousands of samples per day routinely from equipment just like yours and our diagnostician team has a wealth ofexperience in monitoring, trending and giving advice on all types of lubricated and fuel systems. Our investigation team has a vast amount of diagnostic experience in analysis materials, compounds and deposits and have extensive experience in oil additive production and formulation.
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Branding – Give added value to your customers and introduce new revenue schemes
If you do not recognise the name SGS with regards to oil analysis this means we are doing a very good job for our customers as you may not have even realise our laboratory performed the analysis. Our white labelling of our website and report options allows you to brand our oil analysis with your livery giving better customer relations to your customers Why not contact SGS about our branding options and how we have help you build your business using SGSs analysis.
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Variable Testing – Just give us a Question and Let us Answer it for you.
For these types of investigation it is impossible to have a set test suite, as initial tests will choose the direction the investigation takes.
Lubetrend
Lubetrend is an exceptionally powerful tool for you to use to access your results, trend data and control your entire proactive maintenance programme with a few simple mouse clicks. To explain every feature would easily double the length of this document, but below are some of the key features you can do with Lubetrend.com:
- Full on-line & Mobile App access to data & trending, with sample registration available
- Compare system performance across all your assets
- Gather data by make, model, oil brand & grade, site reference & any other field recorded
- Multiple download options available for onward reporting flexibility