Control's readers who use calibrators report they want greater accuracy and more documenting capabilities, according to surveys conducted in March 2010 and April 2012.
For example, almost 37% of respondents in 2010 were happy with 1% full-scale accuracy, but only 30% were happy with 1% in 2012. Also, those who wanted 0.5% of reading increased to 15.5% in 2012 from 8.5% in 2010.
For calibration interval, "manufacturer's recommendation" was the interval of choice for 44.6% of respondents, which was up from 36% in 2010. Correspondingly, historical trend analysis was down from 34.6% in 2010 to 25.7% in 2012. A "uniform calibration interval for all instruments" stayed the same at about 30%.
In addition, multi-parameter field calibrators dropped from 54% in 2010 to 45% in 2012, while use of documenting calibrators increased from 33% to 36.3% during the same period. Meanwhile, vendor-specific calibrators dropped from 51% to 40.2% during the past two years, while single-parameter calibrator use declined from 66% to 59.8%, and use of calibration software for PC or laptops stayed the same.
Also, respondents who manually record calibration results dropped to 51.5% in 2012 from 75% in 2010. Unsurprisingly, use of documenting calibrators came in at 48.5% this year, which was up from 24% in 2010.
