Abstract
In this paper, a new method using Pattern Recognition Techniques (PRT) to measure the particulate contaminents in hydraulic fluid is presented. From the enlarged digital images of the particulate contaminents, the number and size of the particles can be measured, the particle size distribution can be counted up, and some physical properties of the particles can be estimated. All the values of the characteristic parameters of the particulate contaminents are collected and processed in a shortime (about 23 minutes) by the combined system of a close-up video camera and an IBMPC/ XT microcomputer with an image processing board installed. With such a system, initial experiments have been done by the authors and good results have been achieved.
