Abstract:
Mechanical failures in a ship's main engine are frequently triggered by the degradation of lubricating oil quality. Conventional manual testing procedures are considered slow, high-cost, and incapable of presenting real-time data. This study aims to design and implement a real-time quality monitoring system for ship main engine lubricating oil using infrared sensor technology. The research method employed is Research and Development (R&D) with an engineering design approach based on laboratory experiments. This system utilizes the ESP32 as the data processing unit and integrates an infrared sensor (LM393) to detect opacity levels and oil clarity degradation. The results indicate that this prototype exhibits high effectiveness, achieving an accuracy rate of 92% to 95% in classifying lubricant status (normal, warning, critical). Through the utilization of the IoT-based Blynk application, ship operators can continuously monitor the condition of the lubricating fluid from a distance. This system is proven feasible, with an expert consensus percentage of 92% and a user practicality rate by seafarers of 91.4%.
