Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Metrology
Application Note
F ro m t h e F l u k e D i g i t a l L i b r a r y @ w w w. f l u k e . c o m / l i b r a r y
A simple example:
A car will not start. A voltmeter is used to read
the voltage of the car’s battery. The voltmeter
says that the battery reads 12 volts. But how is
it possible to know that it’s really 12 volts? What
if the actual value is really ten volts? Then there
may not be enough power in the battery to crank
the engine. What if it is really 14 volts? If it is,
the battery is probably good and the problem
is elsewhere in the car’s starting system. If the
meter had recently been calibrated, the user
could be confident that the reading was accurate.
By complying with international standards such
as ANSI/ISO/IEC 17025 and using internationally
agreed upon definitions of units, measurements
10 V working standards of voltage in the Fluke standards laboratory in are assured to be compatible and traceable
Everett, Washington USA. anywhere on earth. Companies that comply with
metrological standards and practices reduce
Each country has some process metrology. Legal metrology their rework costs and the number of faulty
for deriving measurement units concentrates on protecting the units shipped, both of which translate to lower
from the definitions. This may unwary from the unscrupulous. production costs.
be accomplished in one of three An example of this is the legal
ways. In the U.S., the National requirement to have gasoline
Institute of Standards and pumps calibrated at regular Where does the
Technology (NIST) determines, intervals. confidence come from?
maintains and disseminates Technical metrology, on the
measurement standards. In other hand, deals with questions To answer this question, we’ll
Germany the Physikalish- of “fitness” for intended use and look at an example that will
Techniche Bundesanstalt (PTB) is compatibility. help illustrate what calibration
the official standards organiza- Modern industry relies heavily means and introduce some basic
tion. Some countries rely on the on measurements for standard- metrological terms.
organizations in other countries. izing components. In industry, This example features a
Still others use a combination calibration makes it possible pressure meter used by a manu-
of sources. Keep in mind that to achieve the accuracy, preci- facturer to set up a production
differences do exist between the sion, and interchangeability that process. To insure that their
standards of various countries. make mass production feasible. instruments measure accurately,
These differences are measured Calibration is the provider of this company periodically sends
and recognized so that there is confidence that components all of its test and measure-
little confusion. manufactured all over the world ment equipment to a calibration
can come together in a single laboratory.
Why calibrate? location and fit. When the calibration lab
Calibration is the highly refined receives the meter, a technician
The strongest force driving the starts by using a calibrator to
development and practice of measurement process that
compares test and measurement check or verify its performance.
metrology and calibration is the The calibrator is essentially
need for accurate information instruments of unknown accuracy
with well-defined standards of a very accurate source that
in trade and industry. Some of produces stimuli in the various
the oldest laws in existence greater accuracy. The purpose
is to detect, eliminate by adjust- units needed for the calibra-
deal with the need for depend- tion—a device whose accuracy
able honest measurements of ment and report any variation
in an instrument’s accuracy. is known to be within a tightly
grains, oils, and metals, which specified tolerance. The techni-
were among the principle items The accuracy of an electrical
measurement, for example, is cian connects the test leads
of early commerce. These laws of the meter to the calibrator’s
were aimed at answering the an expression of the closeness
of its result to the true value. output terminals. The calibra-
question, “Am I getting what tor then produces a signal that
I paid for?” This category of High accuracy indicates a close
approach to the true value of the is read by the meter. Since the
measurements is part of legal technician knows how accurate
item being measured.