“Now I always know how good the oil condition actually is in my biogas plant and can safely extend the oil change intervals. A significant cost reduction, especially nowadays…”
Andrea Schempp, biogas plant operator | To the Blog Article >
Cost savings due to safe extension of oil change intervals.
In biogas plants, the engine oil is usually changed about every 300 operating hours. Depending on the size of the gas engine, this results in 50 liters of engine oil every 14 days. The oil costs alone add up to several thousand euros annually.
But is the engine oil really used up by then, or could the oil change interval be extended without risk?
Avoidance of damage to engine and plant
DAPONA helps reduce the risk of damage to biogas plants and CHP units. A sensor sends the oil condition to the digital platform DAPONA around the clock. DAPONA records the progress in real time and alerts in case of deviations. If, for example, water enters the oil circuit due to a defect in the cylinder head gasket, DAPONA triggers an alarm. Multi-level alarms can also trigger signal lights or other actions, according to freely storable rules.
Maintenance costs in biogas plant reduced by over 50%.
Based on the operating hours, a total of 120 liters of engine oil are changed every 14 days at a 50kw and a 70kw biogas plant in an agricultural operation. Although laboratory tests provide information on the condition of the engine oil at intervals, oil analyses only ever consider the past. The current condition remains in the dark.
Safe extension of change intervals by alignment with actual requirements
An engine oil sensor installed on the engine now analyzes the engine oil around the clock. Using a patented method, it uses a quality indicator to determine the level of impurities and chemical constituents and indicates the quality of the oil from new to the end of its service life.
The sensor sends measured values to the IoT platform DAPONA 24 hours a day. There, the data is stored and provides information in freely configurable dashboards in real time about
- Oil condition (quality indicator)
- Oil temperature
The current degree of wear of the engine oil and the remaining time until the next oil change is available in real time at any time.
In good time before the engine oil can no longer be used, DAPONA triggers a maintenance order and thus enables a safe extension of the change intervals by aligning it with the actual demand.
In the event of deviations (e.g. temperature or oil condition), DAPONA triggers alarms via freely definable rules and enables immediate intervention to prevent damage before it occurs.