Accredited calibration services: 

From -196^oC to 1000^oC   ASTM thermometers, digital thermometers, PRTs, thermocouples, thermistors

Specific Gravity hydrometers. API hydrometers, Baume hydrometers,
Kg/M3 (density) hydrometers, Brix hydrometers, Proof hydrometers

ASTM Class 1 and OIML E-2 and lesser specification stainless steel and brass laboratory weights.  New calibrated weights and re-calibration of weights you currently have.

Thermo-hygrometers, chart recorders, humidity sensors, data-loggers

Burets, pipets, volumetric flasks, graduated cylinders, volumetric glassware

 Testing and certification that an instrument complies with specified accuracy requirements...

What's new at ICL?

We believe it is important for you to know that 2005 was another exciting year of growth and improvement for us – to enable us to offer even better service to you.  Some of the neat stuff:

 Temperature calibration

     We’ve been carefully evaluating our temperature measurement system over the past year, plotting the values of our check standards on control charts in EVERY calibration.  The results pleasantly surprised us, and we’re about ready to submit our application to the A2LA to further reduce our measurement uncertainties for temperature.  Stay tuned.

New temperature equipment placed in service during 2005:

o        New Hart Scientific 7381 alcohol bath, to attain temperatures to – 80C with stability of +/- 3 mK.

 o        New Rosemount 163CE SPRT as a primary standard.  This SPRT was calibrated by NIST in May 2006.   This is our third NIST calibrated SPRT (inter-comparisons of multiple SPRTs bring even greater confidence to the measurement assurance program).

  New Hart 5628-15 PRT secondary reference standards. 

 We are upgrading several of our routine transfer standard PRTs from the Hart 5614 to the 5628.  The 5614 is an excellent sensor, and a workhorse of metrology labs, but the 5628s are even more stable and repeatable.  Our 5614s are generally stable to a few mK over a year; the 5628s are stable to a few tenths of a mK over the same time period.  We expect these even better sensors to help us improve our uncertainties again over the coming year.

New Hart Scientific 9173 metrology drywell calibrator

This is NOT just another drywell calibrator.  Hart has made dramatic advancements (I’ve seen the data) on stability and uniformity.  This device has an 8” (203mm) immersion depth, and Hart claims stabilities of (quoted from Hart’s literature)

±0.005 °C to 100 °C
±0.01 °C to 425 °C
±0.03 °C to 700 °C

We will run this device using a 5628 sensor as a reference, reading the 5628 on a Hart Black Stack thermometer with SPRT module.

 We are looking to use this system to help us improve turnaround times on digital thermometers with 0.1 or larger resolutions.

 For absolute precision, there is still no substitute for liquid baths.  We will continue to calibrate liquid-in-glass thermometers and the better digital devices in our liquid baths.  

 (Another) Pond Engineering Triple Point of Water cell and maintenance device. 

 We bought one in August of 2004, and we love it.  We can repeat the TPW (0.01^oC, one of the defining points of the ITS-90 temperature scale) to within 0.4 mK (0.0004^oC) over months, peak-to-peak.  Our workload requiring calibration at the TPW is growing, and we find our technicians fighting over access to the Pond, so it was time for a second unit…

 Volumetric Glassware calibration

Wow, has this been a year for changes!  We have been seeing a high number of Class A volumetric glassware failures the past year or two, and following the NIST NCWM quarterly newsletter wherein NIST reported seeing failures as high as 50% on brand new items, things really became active.

We participated in several informal inter-comparisons with glassware manufacturers, and the scatter of reported
values made all of us sit up and take notice.

Some of the things we did to make our process better:

• Revisited ASTM E-542 (the ASTM glassware calibration method) and decided to change our Procedure
  003 to use Equation 1 instead of Table 1.

• Provided a dedicated laptop PC and printer on a mobile cart (to reduce steps in the lab, with the
  accompanying air disturbance)

• Incorporated all needed calculations into an Excel spreadsheet to eliminate manual calculations

• Incorporated the latest NIST approved equation for water density into the spreadsheet

• Introduced elements of NIST SOP-14 (the NIST glassware method) into our Procedure 003 to add rigor

• Upgraded our temperature measurement device from a 0.1^oC glass thermometer to a 0.01^oC digital
  thermometer

• Upgraded our humidity measurement device from a chart recorder (+/- 4%RH) to a Hart Scientific ‘Dewk’
  meter (+/- 1.5%RH)

• Upgraded our atmospheric pressure measuring device from a NWS barometer (+/- approx 1 mm of
  mercury) to a calibrated Druck pressure calibrator (with a digital readout of 0.01 mm of mercury)

• Spent a great deal of time evaluating effect on results from differing types of water (distilled, DI, tap, etc.).
  We decided to stay with distilled water.

• Took a long, hard look at methods of reading the meniscus, and spent time on cross-training. We
  continue to be surprised at the magnitude of the variation between readings taken by different trained
  technicians, and have incorporated that variation into our measurement uncertainties.

• Attended the meeting of the ASTM glassware committee in November 2005

• Successfully participated in a NIST NCWM round-robin on glassware calibration. 

 Staff Training Update  

      Ongoing training is essential to keep the technical team at the top of its game, and we continue to invest aggressively in staff training.  Recent technical training:

 ü       Our Bruce Markey attended the Temperature Metrology course at Hart Scientific in July, 2005.

ü       Michael Kelly attended the Industrial Temperature Calibration course at Hart Scientific in May, 2005.

ü       Our entire technical staff attended the Measurement Uncertainties seminar offered by NCSL International in Orlando in September, 2005.

 Staff involvement in standards development

      As you may be aware, ICL belongs to ASTM, ASQ, NCSL International, and NCWM.

      ASTM E-20 meets each spring and fall at various locations.  In May of 2005 we met in Reno, Nevada, and in November 2005 in Dallas, Texas.

      ICL participates on the technical subcommittees responsible for specifications and test methods for Liquid-in-Glass Thermometers and Hydrometers (E20.05), Thermocouples (E20.04), Resistance Thermometers (thermistors, PRTs, RTDs) (E20.03), Fundamentals of Thermometry (E20.07), Editorial and Terminology  (E20.91), and the Executive subcommittee (E20.90).

 Proficiency testing (inter-laboratory comparisons)

      One of the requirements of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 is regular participation in formal inter-laboratory comparisons (ILCs) for the parameters of calibration the laboratory performs.  Simply explained, the participant laboratories in a given test calibrate a test device and submit their results.  This device has been previously calibrated (and is repeatedly calibrated) by a pivot lab, typically a standards lab that is on a higher level than the participant labs.  All the testing is blind, that is, we do not know who the other participants are, nor do we see their obtained values.  The values we submit must agree with the accepted reference values for the device, within the measurement uncertainties we publish (actually, the participant lab’s uncertainty and the uncertainty of the pivot lab are root mean squared, but we’ll leave that explanation for the statisticians).

     If our test results are satisfactory, all well and fine.  If not, corrective actions are required.

      In 2003 we joined NAPT, the National Association for Proficiency Testing.  Thus far we have participated in ILCs for mass, temperature, and humidity, successfully completing all.  As I write this, we are working with NAPT to establish an ILC for hydrometers.

You will be hard pressed to find a cal lab anywhere with a better trained staff, better facilities and equipment, or better reference standards than ICL.

In summation, we are continuing our policy of carefully managed growth and continual improvement to maintain our position as one of the most highly qualified laboratories in the country in our chosen disciplines – and be a valuable asset to your company in the maintenance of the integrity of your measurement system.