Magnetic Plug Sensor with Bridge Nonlinear Correction Circuit for Oil Condition Monitoring of Marine Machinery

Diesel engines in marine power systems often work in extreme environments. Oil monitoring technology can guarantee the operational safety of diesel engines. In this paper, a magnetic plug sensor for oil debris monitoring is proposed to improve sensitivity and accuracy. Through finite element analysis, absolute deviation is reduced by optimizing the sensor structure. A bridge nonlinear correction circuit is designed to make sensitivity consistent over the entire scale range, which can facilitate calibration and data processing. In order to reduce noise and amplify the signal effectively, a signal post-processing circuit is adopted as well, which consists of a first stage filter circuit, a second stage filter, an active filter module, and an instrumentation amplifier. Therefore, this magnetic plug sensor exhibits better sensitivity and accuracy. Furthermore, a void test and a dynamic test are carried out to investigate its performance. There is a linear relationship between the voltage and the particle mass for the sensor with a bridge nonlinear correction circuit. The results illustrate a minimum of 0.033 mg iron debris with a 1.647 signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, it can capture and detect 47 μm particles with a debris capture rate of over 90%, which allows it to excel in early fault diagnosis as well.