Cold-Cranking Simulator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The cold-cranking simulator was designed as a method of determining the low temperature performance of lubricants, in the specific condition of "cold cranking" - ie starting a cold engine. In this condition, the only energy available to turn the engine comes from the starter motor and the battery, and it has been widely assumed that the system acts as a constant power viscometer.
[edit] The test
The original test consists of a DC motor, variously powered by constant voltage or constant current, and a test cell consisting of a highly cooled copper stator, approximately 3/4" (19mm) in diameter and 3/4" long, with a mating stainless steel plug rotated with a flexible drive and driven by the motor.
Calibration is by means of standard fluids, often 3 or 4 per test temperature. The measurement is made by correlation between a graph of motor rotation against viscosity.
[edit] Development
The CCS was derived from work done by Marvin Smith of Esso research, Linden, New Jersey, together with Dr. Robert Manning of Cannon Instrument company, State College, Pennsylvania.
Various generations of the CCS have been made over the years, with the latest CCS2100 utilising Peltier cooling and an associated chiller to operate essentially the same instrument as the original 1960's design.
In the late 1980's Ravenfield Designs, Heywood, England, redesigned the entire system from the ground up, utilising a novel system to accurately model the old instruments and created a new machine offering higher repeatability and reproducibility than former methods. The Ravenfield apparatus, designated Model CS is markedly smaller than the Cannon apparatus, incorporating the cooler, the PC , the instrument and sample pumping in a 600 mm square footprint.
Calibration in the Ravenfield requires a single measurement at each test temperature.
The Society of Automotive Engineers adopted the CCS test as part of the J300[1] specification, and is the subject of ASTM test method D5293[2]
