Oil monitoring apparatus

Claim 1

In a fluid lubrication system for mechanical drives, a particle separator for separating failure particles from wear particles which comprises: means for cyclonicly separating heavier failure particles from lighter wear particles contained in the fluid which includes a closed cylindrical housing forming a chamber having a smooth inner wall, a top and a bottom, a fluid inlet adapted to tangentially inject the fluid into said housing, a fluid outlet from said housing, and a hollow open bottomed cylindrical sleeve concentric with and depending from the top of said housing and spaced apart from the bottom of said housing, said sleeve adapted to receive the treated fluid and conduct it to said outlet and further adapted to cooperate with said inlet such that when the fluid is tangentially injected into an annulus formed between the inner wall of said housing and the outer wall of said sleeve a downwardly spiraling cyclonic flow pattern is developed, said flow pattern generating a centrifugal force field which selectively propels failure particles out of the flow pattern for subsequent capture; means adapted to receive the separated failure particles; indication means connected to said receiving means for indicating the presence of failure particles, and a cylindrical filter means adapted to remove the wear particles from the fluid stream being treated, said filter having its upper end connected to the lower end of said sleeve and its lower end abutting the bottom of said chamber of said housing.