METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE CONTINUOUS DETERMINATION OF THE LUBRICATING OIL CONSUMPTION OF AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

摘要

The invention relates to a method and device for the continuous determination of the lubricating oil consumption of an internal combustion engine. The inventive method consists in: placing a determined quantity of at least one radioactive tracer in the lubricating oil of which the consumption is to be measured; and measuring the quantity of radioactive tracer(s) present in the gases released from the engine ( 2 ), said measurement being taken downstream of the engine. According to the invention, the quantity of radioactive tracer(s) of the lubricating oil present in the gases released from the engine ( 2 ) is measured as follows: the gases are brought into contact with a trap ( 7 ) which can physically trap the radioactive tracer particles, the radiation from the trap is measured using a detector ( 10 ) which is sensitive to radiation emitted by the trapped radioactive tracer(s) and the measurements taken by the detector ( 10 ) are sent to a programmed computer which can convert said measurements into the lubricating oil consumption rate of the engine.