Ain Shams University

Faculty of Engineering
New Programs, CHEP

Measurements & Instrumentation

– MEP231
Lect. 2
 Calibration

“Calibration
is the comparing of an unknown
measurement device against equal or better
known standard under specified conditions”

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 What is span calibration?
The limits are defined by the zero
and span values. The zero value is the
lower end of the range. Span is defined as
the algebraic difference between the upper
and lower range values.
The calibration range may differ from the
instrument range, which refers to the
capability of the instrument.

What is the difference between

calibration and verification? ...
A calibration indicates the error of the
instrument and compensates for any lack
of trueness by applying a correction.
A verification indicates that the
measurement error is smaller than a so
called maximum permissible error.
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There are number of risks of not calibrating, some of which
include —

-Compliance and safety issues

-Wastage of resources and raw materials
-Low quality of the final products
-Increased downtimes
-Litigation issues

ISO/IEC 17025:2005
General requirements for the competence of
testing and calibration laboratories

This standard has been revised by

ISO/IEC 17025:2017
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 ISO/IEC 17025:2005 is applicable to all laboratories
regardless of the number of personnel or the extent of the
scope of testing and/or calibration activities. When a
laboratory does not undertake one or more of the activities
covered by ISO/IEC 17025:2005, such as sampling and the
design/development of new methods, the requirements of
those clauses do not apply.

It is applicable to all organizations performing tests and/or

calibrations. These include, for example, first-, second- and
third-party laboratories, and laboratories where testing
and/or calibration forms part of inspection and product
certification.

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NIST traceable calibration is an
assurance program that certifies that a
laboratory or manufacturer is fully
equipped to calibrate equipment to
National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) standards and that any
products offered by that manufacturer will
match those NIST-maintained
measurement standards.

The National Institute of Standards and

Technology, or NIST, is a non-regulatory
federal agency under the Department of
Commerce headquartered in Gaithersburg,
Maryland. A NIST certification is
important because it supports and
develops measurement standards for a
particular service or product.
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A deadweight tester is a calibration
standard that uses the principle of a
pressure balance to calibrate pressure
measuring instruments. Deadweight
testers use calibrated weights to apply
known pressures to a device under test for
a simple and cost-effective solution that
covers a wide range of pressure
calibrations.

DWT (Dead Weight Tester) is based on

the principle of Pascal's law. The law
states that in a closed system of
incompressible fluid, the pressure applied
will exert equal amount of force in all the
directions.

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 How to Calculate TAR

Test Accuracy Ratio. TAR is a ratio of the accuracy of

a tool, or Unit Under Test(UUT), and the reference standard
used to calibrate the UUT. Metrology labs strive for a
minimum 4:1 TAR. Simply put, this means that the standard
is 4 times more accurate that the tool being calibrated.
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A vacuum gauge is a pressure gauge
used to measure pressures lower than the
ambient atmospheric pressure, .... solid
weight, in which case it is known as a
deadweight tester and may be used for
calibration of other gauges.

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