AN INTRODUCTION TO

UNCERTAINTY IN RELATIVE HUMIDITY

HYGROMETERS

Vito Fernicola
IMGC-CNR

Cavtat, Dubrovnik, 21st June 2004

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 1
 Synopsis

ØRH measurement methods

ØRH hygrometers calibration approach
ØSources of uncertainty in RH:
ŸRelative humidity generator
ŸRelative humidity sensor
ŸInfluence quantities
ØUncertainty estimate

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 2
 RH measurement methods

Dew point temperature f (t s , Ps ) × es (t s ) Pc

f= ×
& gas temperature f (t c , Pc ) × es (t c ) Ps

Impedance-based sensor
Direct output in RH unit
(capacitance, etc.)

Wet-bulb e¢s (t w ) - A¢ × P × (t - t w )
f=
psychrometers e¢s (t )

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 3
 RH hygrometers calibration approach

DIRECT: in a test chamber

connected to a DP generator

Dew point BY COMPARISON in a climatic

hygrometer chamber:
w using a dew point hygrometer Psychro
Impedance as a reference meter
sensor w using a psychrometer as a
reference (e.g., WMO)

Other methods (e.g., saturated salt

solutions, etc.)

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 4
 Sources of uncertainty in RH calibration

Standards Dew point generator, dew-point

hygrometer, PRT’s

Method Calibration approach

measuring equipment (bridge, DMM)
aux. apparatus (scanner, bath)
calibration cycle (e.g. hysteresis)

Ambient conditions Environment influence on standards

and HUC

Hygrometer under Repeatability, resolution, short-term

calibration (HUC) stability, hysteresis, temperature
effects

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 5
 Sources of uncertainty in RH calibration

Relative humidity generators:

•Uncertainty form a standard generator
•Uncertainty from a secondary standard (e.g., climatic chamber)

Relative humidity sensor:

•Repeatability •Hysteresis
•Resolution •Temperature dependence (built-
•Short-term stability (in a in compensation)
calibration cycle) •Stem temperature effects
•Long-term drift (of the •Contamination (from ambient)
calibration curve) •Self heating
•Flow measurement/stability •Ambient effect on instrument
•Non-linearity

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 6
 Climatic chamber calibration layout
EUROMET Workshop on
Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti"
Vito C. Fernicola
Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements
7
 A reference air temperature thermometer
Gold-coated Stainless
surfaces Steel Sheath
Bonding PRT
connection (4-w)

PRT Aspiration

Flow
Air
temperature

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 8
 Calculation of reference RH

f (t s , Ps ) × es (t s ) Pc
f= ×
f (t c , Pc ) × es (t c ) Ps

Reference dew point temperature è ts u(ts)

Reference gas temperature è tc u(tc)
Vapour pressure formulation è es(t) u[es(t)]
Enhancement factor formulation è f(t, P) u[f(t, P)]
Pressure (drop) measurement è P u(P)

Note: contributions in grey are comparatively small in a 2-T generator

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 9
 Sensitivity coefficients

Effect of a temperature change of 1 °C

at various levels of temperature and relative humidity

Relative Temperature
humidity 10 °C 20 °C 30 °C 50 °C
10 %rh 0.7 %rh 0.6 %rh 0.6 %rh 0.5 %rh
50 %rh 3.5 %rh 3.2 %rh 3.0 %rh 2.6 %rh
90 %rh 6.3 %rh 5.7 %rh 5.4 %rh 4.6 %rh

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 10
 Do not simplify too much !
Magnus-vs-Sonntag sat. vapour pressure difference

2.0
% difference (Magnus-Sonntag eq.)
1.6

1.2

0.8

0.4 +0.31%

0.0
-0.31%
-0.4

-0.8

-1.2
-40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
Temperature / °C

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 11
 Temperature dependence

2.0

1.5

1.0
RHref - RHread / %

0.5

0.0

-0.5

-1.0 T = 60 °C

-1.5
T = 25 °C

-2.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
RHread / %

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 12
 Temperature dependence, non-linearity, hysteresis

1 T = 65 °C
T = 40 °C
0
T = 10 °C
RHref - RHread / %

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

-6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
RHread / %

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 13
 Temperature coefficient
(of capacitive polymeric sensors)

0.8
dRH/dT
0.6 [%rh/°C]
0.4

0.2

0.0

-0.2

-0.4

-0.6
RH [%]
-0.8
0 20 40 60 80 100

(Buonanno et al., ISHM 2002)

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 14
 Polynomial correction

3
2nd order
RHref - RHread / %

1 3rd order

0 1st order

-1
T = 25 °C

-2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
RHread / %

Ø which order ?
Ø extrapolation is allowed ?
Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements
Vito C. Fernicola 15
 Temperature effect on the electronics
(e.g. partially-immersed probe)

Measurement chamber Ambient

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 16
 Stem temperature effects

(Lovell-Smith et al., ISHM 2002)

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 17
 Immersion errors

(Lovell-Smith et al., ISHM 2002)

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 18
 Contamination (chemical interference)

(Leppanen et al., ISHM 2002)

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 19
 Long-term drift of the calibration curve

-1
RHref - RHread / %

-2

-3

-4
yr. 1998 yr. 2002
-5 yr. 2001 yr. 2004

-6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
RHread / %

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 20
 Estimation of reference RH uncertainty

- by using relative uncertainty propagation equation:

p p p
Y = X1 1 × X 2 2 × × × X NN

2 N 2
é u ( y) ù é u ( xi ) ù
u r2 ( y ) = ê c
y
ú = åê i x ú
p × with pi = ±1
ë û i =1 ë i û

u c (f )
= u r2 [es (t s )] + u r2 [(es (t c )] + u r2 ( f ) + u r2 ( P)
f

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 21
 Uncertainty estimate for a RH hygrometer

Example of calibration of a RH hygrometer with 0.1-digit resolution

at 50 %rh and 21 °C air temperature

Quantity Estimate Std. uncert. PDF Sens. Contribution

[%rh] [%rh] coeff. [%rh]
Reference relative humidity 50.0 0.21 N 1 0.21
Readings of HUC 50.8 0.03 N 1 0.03
Resolution of HUC 0 0.029 R 1 0.029
Reproducibility of HUC 0 0.29 R 1 0.29
Combined std. uncertainty 0.36
Expanded uncertainty (k=2) 0.72

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 22
 Expression of the uncertainty for a RH hygrometer

Example of a calibration of a RH hygrometer with 0.1-digit resolution

at 50 %rh with 21 °C air temperature.

Air temperature / °C
%rh 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
10 0.60 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59
20 0.66 0.66 0.61 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60
30 0.74 0.73 0.64 0.63 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.66
40 0.83 0.69 0.67 0.66 0.65 0.66 0.72 0.70
50 0.75 0.74 0.72 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.77 0.75
60 0.81 0.79 0.76 0.74 0.72 0.87 0.84 0.81
70 0.87 0.85 0.82 0.79 0.76 0.94 0.90 0.87
80 0.93 0.91 0.87 0.84 0.81 1.02 0.97
90 1.00 0.97 0.93 0.89 0.85 1.09 1.04

Note: each cell represents the expanded uncertainty in %rh

Istituto di Metrologia "G. Colonnetti" EUROMET Workshop on Uncertainty in Humidity Measurements

Vito C. Fernicola 23