PMDS Oil & Tribology Laboratory

PMDS Oil & Tribology Laboratory (PMDS מעבדות שמנים ותרמוגרפיה — PMDS Oil and Thermography Laboratories) is a private, accredited testing and predictive maintenance laboratory established in 1993 and located in Gutwirth Park, Kiriat Technion (Technion Area), Haifa, Israel. For over three decades, the laboratory has served a wide cross-section of Israeli industry, providing integrated predictive maintenance (אחזקה חזויה) services that combine oil analysis, ferrographic wear analysis, thermographic inspection, ultrasonic testing, and non-ionizing radiation measurement under one roof. The laboratory's multidisciplinary team of engineers and engineering technicians spans the fields of mechanical engineering, chemistry, materials science, and electrical engineering, enabling it to deliver holistic condition-monitoring programs that extend equipment life and prevent costly unplanned downtime.

The laboratory holds ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from Israel's National Accreditation Authority for Laboratories (ISRAC), the internationally recognized standard for technical competence in testing and calibration, with quality management requirements that encompass ISO 9000. In addition, PMDS holds a permit from the Standards Authority (Memune al HaTkina) of Israel's Ministry of Economy and Industry to test petroleum products and issue official test certificates for oils, diesel fuels, greases, and related petroleum products. These dual accreditations position PMDS as a trusted third-party laboratory for regulatory compliance, quality assurance, and formal certification within the Israeli market.

At the core of PMDS's offering is its oil analysis laboratory, which performs a comprehensive suite of physical and chemical tests on lubricating oils, greases, and diesel fuels. Key analyses include kinematic viscosity, water content in oil, total acid number (TAN), total base number (TBN), flash point, and dielectric breakdown voltage, alongside a broad range of additional tests. The laboratory quantifies wear metals and additive elements — including iron, copper, aluminum, silicon, and other trace elements — using spectrometric methods. Oil types routinely tested encompass air compressor oils, refrigeration compressor oils, transformer oils, turbine oils, generator oils, engine oils, gearbox oils, and process oils for injection molding machines and extruders. Systematic oil testing enables clients to extend oil drain intervals safely, often well beyond the intervals recommended by equipment or lubricant suppliers, generating significant cost savings without increasing operational risk.

Ferrographic wear and contamination analysis (אנליזות בלאי וזיהומים פרוגרפיות — ferrographic wear and contamination analyses) represents PMDS's flagship diagnostic technique for monitoring rotating machinery and equipment condition. Ferrography separates wear particles from oil and grease samples and examines them both quantitatively and qualitatively under microscope. This technique reveals the concentration, size, morphology, and composition of metallic and non-metallic debris, providing early warning of abnormal wear modes — including fatigue, adhesive wear, corrosive wear, and abrasive wear — in engines, turbines, compressors, extruders, mixers, and other rotating assets. Samples are typically collected from operating machinery without production interruption, preserving equipment availability while delivering diagnostic insights that prevent unexpected failures and their associated direct and indirect costs (downtime).

PMDS also conducts diesel fuel testing on transportation diesel, generator diesel, and heating diesel samples, assessing compliance with applicable Israeli national standards. The laboratory is specifically licensed by the Ministry of Economy and Industry for this scope, making its test certificates acceptable to regulatory authorities. Thermographic scanning services (סריקות תרמוגרפיות) are provided using infrared cameras that translate thermal signatures into color-coded images, enabling non-contact temperature measurement across entire systems. Thermographic inspections are particularly valued in electrical installations — switchgear panels, busbars, transformers, cable joints, and power distribution equipment — where hot spots indicate imminent failure, fire risk, or energy waste. PMDS delivers thermographic services through a senior Type-3 licensed electrical inspection engineer, allowing inspection visits to produce both thermal imaging findings and formal compliance certificates for regulatory authorities, supporting both safety and energy efficiency initiatives at industrial and institutional facilities.

Ultrasonic testing at PMDS employs ultrasound detectors that convert ultrasonic emissions — acoustic signals above the threshold of human hearing — into audible and displayable signals. In a predictive maintenance context, ultrasonic inspection detects compressed air and gas leaks from vessels and pipework, assesses the integrity of steam boilers, steam lines, and steam traps, and identifies electrical phenomena such as corona discharge, arcing, and partial discharge in high-voltage equipment. Ultrasonic testing complements thermography, ferrography, and vibration analysis, collectively providing multiple independent diagnostic windows into asset health. Non-ionizing radiation measurement services (קרינה בלתי מייננת), authorized by Israel's Ministry of Environmental Protection, are offered by a certified inspector. The measurement scope covers ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) electric-power-frequency fields as well as radio broadcasting stations, cellular networks, microwave links, satellite ground stations, radar installations, and personal wireless devices, supporting employer and facility compliance with national and international exposure standards and helping mitigate documented health risks associated with excessive electromagnetic field exposure.

All test reports generated by PMDS are made available through a dedicated secure online portal that presents both current findings and historical trend data, enabling clients to track changes over time and make data-driven maintenance decisions. The integration of multiple independent predictive maintenance techniques — oil analysis, ferrography, thermography, ultrasonics, and radiation measurement — into a single service offering is a defining differentiator of the laboratory. Clients in manufacturing, energy, utilities, and industrial infrastructure benefit from this integrated approach, which reduces unplanned production stoppages, prevents electrical fires, minimizes unnecessary oil changes and scheduled overhauls, and contributes to measurable energy savings. With more than thirty years of continuous operation from its Haifa Technion campus base and state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation, PMDS Oil & Tribology Laboratory is a credible and authoritative partner for industrial predictive maintenance and oil and petroleum quality assurance in Israel.