Influence of oil service life on selected performance parameters of an aircraft piston engine

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the influence of oil service life on the performance parameters of an aircraft piston engine lubrication system used in an ultralight aircraft. The ageing of oil between oil changes causes a change in its parameters (such as density, viscosity ...). These parameters have a strong influence on the level of protection of the lubricated components. Currently, in aircraft, oil changes are carried out according to a time schedule - oil is changed every fixed period (residual life) regardless of its actual condition. The task of this article is to test the possibility of indirect assessment of oil condition based on analysis of changes in selected parameters of engine lubrication system operation during normal operation. The oil warm-up speed during the pre-start procedure and the dependence of oil pressure on engine speed were assumed for the analysis. The study was conducted on an ultralight rotorcraft during normal operation. Selected first daily flights directly after oil change, and after 17, 32, 50, 66 hours of operation were analysed. It was shown that the warm-up rate changes in the samples analyzed, but that this change may also be due to factors other than oil operating time. In the case of the oil pressure vs. speed characteristics, different characteristics were shown for different operating time, but no specific dependencies were found.