This article was printed in CONTROL's September 2009 edition.
Every month, Control's editors take a specific product area, collect all the latest, significant tools we can find, and present them here to make your job easier. If you know of any tools and resources we didn't include, send them to [email protected], and we'll add them to the website.
GAS MONITOR CALIBRATION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
www.osha.gov
The document, "Verification Of Calibration for Direct-Reading Portable Gas Monitors," is a Health & Safety Information Bulletin describing the basics of gas monitor calibration. Information includes causes of calibration drift, calibration rules, a discussion ofwhen to do a bump test and when to fully calibrate monitors. A direct link to the bulletin is found at www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib050404.html.
NIST CALIBRATION
NIST
This National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) website contains a wealth of information on calibration and NIST's calibration services. It contains links to training programs, dictionaries of terms, information about quality standards and certifications, white papers, reference tables, weights and measures, metric conversions and measurement uncertainty guides.
HART CALIBRATION
Fluke
425/347-6100
A white paper on the maintenance and calibration of HART field instruments. To properly service these instruments, precision analog source/measure capability and digital communication are both required. In the past, this operation required two separate tools—a calibrator and a communicator. Now these capabilities are available in one HART documenting process calibrator. A direct link to the paper is located at http://tinyurl.com/6a9wk9.
CALIBRATION PRIMER
Omega Engineering
888/826-6342
The Calibration Primer explains what calibration is, what types of calibratators are available, why calibrations is important, what NIST traceability is, and what is involved in a typical calibration exercise. It also lists many references for calibration. A direct link is at http://tinyurl.com/lqk7mj.
ALL THINGS CALIBRATION BLUE MOUNTAIN QUALITY RESOURCES
800/982-2388
A one-stop resource for information about companies providing calibration products and services. There are directories of companies, job boards, events caladar, new releases, white papers and more.
CALIBRATION COSTS
Tektronix
800/426-2200
"Thinking About the Real Cost of Calibration" gives answers to the questions you should ask when selecting a calibration service. Questions include, "Are calibration providers doing the job for you?," "Price versus cost," and "Do calibration services have deep expertise and experience with the instruments they calibrate?" The PDF can be accessed directly at http://tinyurl.com/6kp3ma.
METROLOGY DICTIONARY
bipm
This 104-page document is produced by Working Group 2 of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), which works to ensure worldwide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI). The document covers basic and general concepts and associated terms, as wel as basic principles governing quantities and units. French and English versions are in same document. A direct link is at http://tinyurl.com/azrxhk.
TEMPERATURE SENSOR CALIBRATION
Temperatures.com
215-325-1450
This site contains an online library of references on the calibration of temperature sensors. Links include those to International Bureau of Weights and Measures, the International Temperature Scale of 1990, NIST, the Oak Ridge National Labs' Instrumentation and Controls division, National Research Council of Canada, and the standards bodies for the U.K. and Australia. It also includes links to non-commerical informative sites and suppliers of termperature sensor calibration equipment, services and/or training. Direct link at www.temperatures.com/calb.html.
