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One
of the primary concerns for sensor and transducer
manufacturers is the amount of downtime required to send a
pressure instrument in for calibration.
Not only is the cost of the calibration a factor,
but also the cost of not producing their products while
the pressure instrument is out of production during a
calibration. Mensor Corporation has developed a pressure
calibrator that addresses these issues by offering a new
pressure controller/calibrator that offers long-term
stability and interchangeable pressure transducers.
The
Mensor Model 8100 Quartz Pressure Calibrator utilizes one
or two Paroscientific Series 2000, 3000 or 4000 Digiquartz®
Pressure Transducers. Each of the pressure transducers can
have up to three calibrated pressure ranges. The quartz
transducers provide a one-year calibration interval and an
uncertainty of better than 0.01% of full scale for each
pressure range. The one-year calibration interval and
interchangeable sensors allow companies to minimize the
“cost of ownership” of having to return a unit
multiple times throughout the year for calibration.
A
variety of cost savings are achieved through the following
scenarios:
a)
Each
transducer has its own set of calibration coefficients.
This means that rather than returning the entire instrument,
the user can remove the transducers via
the hinged front panel and return them to the factory or
authorized calibration facility for calibration.
By doing this, shipping costs are reduced simply due
to the lower weight of the transducers as opposed to the
weight of the entire instrument.
b)
The
user can also elect to return only one transducer for
calibration leaving the other transducer in the Model
8100. The cost savings from this standpoint is not only a
savings in shipping, but also because the user can still utilize
the Model 8100 to continue production of their products.
c)
An alternative is to purchase identical pressure
range transducers so that they can be
interchanged with the existing transducers in the Model
8100 when calibration time arrives.
This “swap” can be done in less than 5 minutes,
which prevents lost production time during calibration. The
transducers that have been removed can then be sent off
for calibration.
Often
calibration laboratories must purchase several pressure
calibrators to cover a wide spectrum of pressure ranges.
This means that there are times a pressure
calibrator sits idle until it is required for a specific
pressure range. With
the Model 8100’s ability to have multiple pressure
ranges on each transducer and its ability to interchange
pressure transducers, the need to purchase multiple and
costly pressure calibrators is minimized.
Rather than purchase multiple Model 8100’s, the
customer can make the initial purchase of a Model 8100 and
then purchase individual transducers of different pressure
ranges and incorporate them as needed in their existing
Model 8100. This
gives the cal lab a tremendous amount of flexibility and
cost savings from not having to purchase additional
calibrators. The
Model 8100 is essentially a “calibration lab in a
box”. |
