BINDT announces 2020 CM Innovation Award winner
21/09/2021
BINDT’s CM Innovation Award is given to an individual who has made a significant contribution to technology innovation, technology transfer or technology strategy in the field of condition monitoring (CM). This prestigious prize is awarded each year by the British Institute of NDT’s Condition Monitoring Technical Committee (CMTC).The CM Innovation Award for 2020 is awarded to Robert Cutler.
Bob Cutler graduated with the Open University, is a Chartered Scientist, Chartered Chemist, Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the Institute of Diagnostic Engineers and current Chair of BINDT’s Condition Monitoring Technical Committee (CMTC) and Lubrication Analysis Working Group (LAWG).
He worked in oil testing laboratories for over 50 years and managed an oil condition monitoring laboratory for the latter 37 years, before retiring. However, aware that inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectroscopy cannot detect particles greater than 5 microns in used oils, Bob used his now free time and experience to develop a rapid low-cost acid digestion process to detect wear-metal particles of all sizes. Aware, too, that this was a phenomenal step in oil analysis, which he calls LubeWear, Bob opened his own oil testing laboratory in 2018 providing a single report showing both standard and acid digested wear-metal results at no extra cost. This technique detects abnormal wear and any impending failures much earlier than standard oil analysis methods currently used worldwide.
