For example, if 2,000 particles 6 microns or greater

are counted upstream and 1,000 particles 6 microns

or greater are counted downstream in the oil, the
Beta Ratio equals 2. B6(c) = 2 means that a 6 micron
filter can remove 50% of all particles that are 6
microns or larger. Most filter manufactures use a
beta ratio of 2 as a “nominal” filter rating and a beta
ratio of 75 or larger as an “absolute” rating. Currently,
there is no accepted ISO, ANSI, or NFPA standard
regarding absolute ratings. The filter illustrated is
said to have a “nominal rating of 6 microns” and an
“absolute rating of 14 microns”.

g01971553
Illustration 54

Lab efficiency can be calculated from the Beta ratio ISO 4406:1999 provides guidelines for defining the
in the following manner: level of contamination present in a fluid sample in
terms of an ISO rating. ISO 4406:1999 uses three
% Efficiency = 1-(1/Beta Ratio) scale numbers representing the number of particles
greater than or equal to 4µm(c), 6µm(c), and 14µm(c)
As can be seen, ratios above 75 do not represent in size, per 1mL of sample fluid. Table 29 lists the
a significant improvement. The added cost for a ISO rating for 1mL fluid samples containing various
Beta=200 filter only improves lab test efficiency by levels of particles. Notice that each range is twice the
0.8%. number of the preceding range. The most common
ranges used to express oil cleanliness are usually
Table 28 from 13 to 24.
ISO 16889 Beta Ratios
Rating Efficiency
2 50.0 percent
10 90.0 percent
75 98.7 percent
100 99.0 percent
200 99.5 percent
1000 99.9 percent

49