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Calibration of Differential Pressure Transmitter
Calibration of Differential Pressure Transmitter
However there are general guidelines you need to follow before you
calibrate any transmitter:
Step 1:
Ensure all the materials needed for the calibration are within reach (e.g
meters, pressure source, pressure gauge, Digital multimeter, power supply
module 24Vdc, etc)
Step 2:
Record and put down the following (can easily be sourced from
transmitter nameplate):
a) Transmitter make and model
b) Transmitter calibration range
c) Transmitter span
d) Transmitter MWP(Maximum Working Pressure)
Step 3:
Connect all the equipment needed for the calibration exercise in the
appropriate manner. To ensure you don’t make any mistake, you should draw
a connection diagram for all equipment involved paying particular attention
to polarity of transmitter and power source! Then connect them according to
your connection diagram. A typical DP cell transmitter calibration diagram is
shown below:
For your application, this could be modified slightly. For example if the
pressure source is a hand pump, you can easily control the pressure applied
to the DP cell. However, if you are doing field calibration that requires the
use of the actual process pressure, you will need a pressure regulator in
conjunction with a pneumatic calibrator to help you control the pressure
applied to the DP cell.
Step 4:
Most transmitter calibration done is a five point calibration. That is for
0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of input span or range (in this case pressure
input into the DP transmitter). This should correspond exactly to 0%, 25%,
50%, 75% and 100% of the transmitter output span (4- 20mA). The graph
below illustrates the correlation between input and output values.
Readings are taken for both increasing and decreasing input values
and the corresponding transmitter output values are recorded
Step 5:
The low port of the DP transmitter cell is vented to the atmosphere (as
shown in the connection diagram above) and the high port of the DP
transmitter connected to a pressure source e.g a hand pump or any other
suitable pressure source in a bench calibration or the actual process pressure
through a pressure regulator and a pneumatic calibrator in a field calibration.
So once your equipment is well setup, power it up and pressurize the high
port of your DP transmitter. Record the current reading in (m A) which will be
your first data point. Continue pressurizing the transmitter and recording
your readings for the five points (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of input
pressure). All the reading obtained will be the as found readings. If you
calibrate the DP transmitter before first testing and recording the as found
data, the history of the device performance data will be lost.
Step 6
Step 7:
Turn the ZERO and SPAN screws both 20 turns clockwise. Next turn
both screws 10 turns counter clockwise to approximately adjust the
potentiometer to the mid resistance point (50%).
Step 8:
Apply the 0% (LRV) pressure to the transmitter’s High side, and the
transmitter’s low side vented so that there is no differential pressure acting
across the transmitter’s DP cell.
Step 9:
Adjust the ZERO screw on the transmitter while observing the current
meter to cause the indication to be 4m A, which is the transmitters LRV
output. This may not be exactly 4mA but depending on your plant’s
acceptable margin of error, you should get a value very close to 4mA.
Step 10:
Next pressurize the high side of the DP transmitter to cause the
pressure applied to the high side to increase to the 100 percent value (URV)
of the calibration range.
Step 11:
Adjust the SPAN screw while observing the meter’s current indication
to cause the meter to indicate 20 mA, which is the 100% (URV) output value
signal for the DP transmitter.
Step 12:
100% input to the transmitter (pressure) exactly equals the
transmitters 0 % through 100 % output (4 - 20 mA current). A correctly
calibrated DP transmitter can be described as one where the % input equals
the % output for all values between 0 and 100 percent.
Once you are satisfied with the level of accuracy of the calibration result, you
are done with the calibration of the DP transmitter otherwise you will have to
continue fine tuning the calibration process until a reasonable accuracy is
achieved.
The following tips are general guides that you should have at the back
of your mind when calibrating a DP pressure transmitter:
**
Transmitter Re-ranging
Configuration function that changes a transmitter 4mA and 20mA settings
Span
Span is defined as the algebraic difference between the upper (URV) and lower range
(LRV) values of the DP transmitter.
Span = URV – LRV
For example, if the DP transmitter is being used to measure a pressures in the range 0
– 300psig, then URV = 300, and LRV = 0
Therefore span = URV – LRV = 300 – 0 = 300
Calibration Range
The calibration range of a DP transmitter is defined as “the region between the limits
within which a quantity is measured, received or transmitted, expressed by stating the lower
and upper range values.” The limits are defined by the zero and span values of the DP
transmitter. The zero value is the lower end of the range. For example a DP transmitter being
used to measure pressures of 0 – 500 psig has a calibration range of 0 – 500 psig.
Instrument Range
This refers to the capability of the DP transmitter. If a manufacturer has designed a DP
transmitter for the range 0 – 700psig for example, then 0 – 700 psig is the instrument range of
the transmitter. Under no circumstances should the DP transmitter be used in an application
where the pressure is expected to be above 700psig as this will inevitably destroy the
transmitter because its capability has been exceeded.
The calibration range may be the same or differ from the instrument range. For
example, a DP transmitter may have a nameplate instrument range of 0–700 psig and output
of 4 - 20 mA. However, if an engineer has determined the instrument will be calibrated for 0-
to-300 psig = 4-to-20 mA. Then, the calibration range would be specified as 0-to-300 psig = 4-
to-20 mA. In this example, the zero input value is 0 psig and zero output value is 4 mA. The
input span is 300 psig and the output span is 16 mA.
MWP
MWP means the Maximum Working Pressure of the DP transmitter. MWP refers to the
amount of gauge pressure common to each port (High and Low), not the differential pressure
between ports, which the DP transmitter can safely handle without being damaged.
Transmitter Damping
Output function that increases the response time of a transmitter to smooth the
output when there are rapid input variations
Zero Trim
A zero-based, one point adjustment used in different pressure applications to
compensate for mounting position effects or zero shifts caused by static pressure.