Smooth operator

Traditionally sensors — including vibration and acoustic — have been used to monitor the condition of plant and deliver information about the machinery.

Now Peter Dryden, of East Sussex company

, claims to have invented a system that not only checks on the condition of the machinery but helps it run more efficiently, thereby extending its life.

His company has developed a lubricant called Hydrodynamic Plasma, which works by reducing the contact and friction between metal surfaces.

Hydralube has been in business for 20 years and believes its technology, which incorporates a computerised asset monitoring system, may revolutionise the approach to wear in modern machinery. It has spent the last five years developing the lubricant in a project led by Dryden, a tribologist.

'If you take an old lubricant out of a gearbox and replace it with a new one, your performance would improve but it wouldn't actually improve worn surfaces,' said Dryden.

He says his formulations contain a molecular membrane that is implanted in the components to act as a barrier coating. This has the ability to absorb heavy stress loading and shockwave phenomena — a major cause of metal fatigue and premature asset wear.