Spectro Inc’s portable and accurate viscometer, the SpectroVisc Q3000, is a lightweight (1.8kg) self-contained and portable instrument that gives an accurate kinematic viscosity measurement right by the side of the machine in question from only a couple of drops of oil. Furthermore, the Q3000 does not require any temperature measurements, sample averaging or reference fluids. Critically, no solvents or other hazardous materials are required to be used or carried during operation.
The Q3000 can measure the kinematic viscosity of lubricant oils, coolants, synthetic fluids and glycol and is able to accurately handle dark, sooty samples as well as transparent samples without pre-checks. The patent pending sampling design enables operators to dispense a few drops (60µL) of fluid into the top of the split-cell capillary channel. The sample is accurately timed by the internal processor as it traverses the channel at a constant temperature of 40°C in order to report its kinematic viscosity. The low volume of each sample means that less waste is generated, plus the sampling cell is quickly and easily cleaned using one of the absorbent, non-abrasive pads that are provided with the instrument.

With a re-chargeable battery life of six hours, the Q3000 is low maintenance and requires little training as its intuitive full-colour LCD touch-screen interface guides the operator through the testing process. Results can be trended with Spectrotrack Information management software along with data from other condition monitoring routines like particle counts and spectrometric analysis to predict when problems with equipment will occur, eliminating the guesswork of maintenance scheduling. However, by determining the most critical physical property of oil – its viscosity – operators can immediately flag lubricant degradation problems on-site caused by fuel or coolant dilution, contamination or lubricant mix-up for example.