Fluke Calibration

Web Seminar Series

Introduction to
Pressure
Calibration
Three part pressure webinar
• 1st Feb 21: Introduction to pressure calibration.

• 2nd March 21: Calibration of industrial devices

– 2. Specifications and selection of references for 750P, 2700G and PM200
modules.
– 3. TURs and TARs.
– 4. Hardware setups.
– 5. Available software to assist in calibration and adjustment.
– 6. How to evaluate results; calibration and confidence guardbands.

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Three part pressure webinar

• 3rd April 23: Calibration of high end secondary standards.

– 2. Challenges of calibrating high accuracy modules and controller/
calibrators (PM600, PPC4, 7250).
– 4. Using a Piston gauge as a reference. The AMH advantage.
– 5. Calibrating DWTs? What is needed.

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Summary
• Introduction to fluid pressure.

• Basic pressure theory. What is happening in your pressure circuit?

• Pressure Units. What is a pascal (Pa)?

• Calibration hardware and equipment.

• Pressure calibration environment.

• Proper procedures and points.

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Introduction to Fluid Pressure
• Fluid pressure is important to many industries. Here are some examples:

– Aerospace: Air speed and altitude

– Weather: Barometric
– Hospitals: Draft range, O2 delivery
– Oil and gas: Downhole and gas metering
– Power Industry: Steam pressure, containment
– Automotive: Injection pressures, tire pressures
– Semiconductor: material deposition
– Gas Delivery
– Heavy Equipment: Hydraulics
– Sea Floor
– Fracking
– Thermodynamic Research

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Introduction to Fluid Pressure
• Pressure is a derived measurand. It uses the base quantities, mass
length and time (explain later).

• It is a state variable where the quantity values describe the condition of

a fluid much like temperature.

• Most pressure measuring devices measure over a range.

• Measurements are made in either some type of gas or hydraulic fluid.

Usually nitrogen or air for gas.

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 Introduction to Fluid Pressure
Pressure scale

Gas bottle End of gas Hydraulics, Diesel Ballistics,

vacuum Atmosphere, Air speed Pressure, Steam, Pressure Downhole Injection Sterilization
Altitude Sea Floor

1 Pa, 100 kPa, 350 kPa, 20, 30 MPa 100 MPa, 140 MPa, 350 MPa, 1000 MPa,
7.5 mTorr 14.5 psi 50 psi 3000, 4300 psi 15000 psi 20000 psi 50000 psi 150000 psi
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0 gauge, start of hydraulic pressure
Introduction to Fluid Pressure
• Types of pressure measuring devices
• Secondary – with approximate best specification

– Analog gauge ±0.1% full scale (FS)

– Digital pressure gauge ±0.005% of reading
– Digital pressure controller ±0.005% of reading
– Analog transmitter ±0.025% FS
– Raw analog transducer ±0.1% FS
– Dead weight testers ±0.005% of reading

©2018 Fluke Calibration

Introduction to Fluid Pressure
• Types of pressure measuring devices
• Primary – Approximate lowest uncertainties

– Piston Gauges ±0.0005% of reading

– Manometers ±0.0005% of reading
– Photonic reference (soon) ±0.0002% of reading

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Basic Pressure Theory
Pressure Modes Differential

• Absolute, thermodynamic.
Gauge (+ or -)

• Differential. Difference between two

pressures.

• Gauge. Difference from current Barometric Absolute

atmospheric pressure. + or -

Zero pressure, no movement

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Basic Pressure Theory
In a closed container of a fluid at rest, if a
Pascal’s Principle pressure change is applied to one part of the
container it is transmitted equally to all parts
of the container.

Pressure Tube

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Basic Pressure Theory
• Fluids
• Gas media
– Can be used up to 100 MPa (15000 psi). Sometimes higher.
– If dried and filtered does not contaminate devices under test.
– Can be dangerous as pressure get higher.
– Anything above bottle pressure, normally 20 MPa (3000 psi) must be boosted.
– Compressible. As pressure goes up so does density.
– Air and N2 the most common.

©2018 Fluke Calibration Pressure Tube - Gas

Basic Pressure Theory
• Fluids
• Liquid media
– Cannot be used below atmospheric pressure.
– If not water many times DUTs need to be cleaned out.
– Not as dangerous and easy to generate very high pressure.
– Incompressible. As pressure goes up density stays close to the same.
– Some oils can be too viscous and difficult to control if proper hardware is not
used.

Pressure Tube - Liquid

©2018 Fluke Calibration
Basic Pressure Theory
TEST GAUGE
Pressure heads

Ref
• Because we are in a gravitational field, pressure is different at different heights even in the
same pressure vessel.

• If at all possible keep the reference and DUT at the same level. If this is not possible a
pressure head correction is made.

• Pressure gets lower further away from the source of gravity (higher).

• This is why pressure devices have a defined reference level.

• Quick estimate: Gas is about 0.00012% per cm, water (most oils) around 100 Pa/cm
(0.033 psi/inch).

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Basic Pressure Theory
Pressure heads
Where
– gl = local gravity
PGauge    m  ( P ,T )

  a ( P ,T ) g l h
–
–
ρm(P,T) = density of media
ρa(P,T) = density of air
P ( abs )  m ( P ,T ) gl h
– h = difference in height between locations
– h is positive if where you are calculating to is lower, negative if higher.
Normally calculating TEST GAUGE

From ref to DUT

Here h is negative

Ref
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Pressure Units
• pascal (Pa) named after Blaise Pascal 1623-1662.
– SI unit of pressure
– newton per square meter (N/m2)
– N is kg m/s2 , Pa is kg/m s2
– Small force on large area equals very small pressure.
– Atmospheric pressure is around 100,000 Pa.
– Common are mPa, kPa and MPa.

• Unfortunately many confusing non-SI units are used worldwide. See NIST
Special Publication 811 for conversions.
– Pounds per square inch (psi), inches of mercury, inches of water and bar (ex)
– Sometimes you will see an ‘a’ or ‘g’ at the end to designate absolute or gauge
mode.

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 Equipment and Hardware
Device under test

Simple gas calibration schematic Reference

Filter

To ATM or vacuum pump

Supply Vent Valve
Valve
Supply bottle w/ Variable Volume
regulator Fine control
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 Equipment and Hardware
Device under test

Simple hydraulic calibration schematic Reference

Reservoir

Supply
Valve Priming pump Variable Volume Vent Valve
(if necessary) Fine control Feed to priming pump – Probably should have
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a filter or come from a clean reservoir.
Equipment and Hardware
• Dos and Don'ts of Hardware and general safety
– Take your time, never be in a hurry.
– Always know the pressure rating.
– Replenish old fittings. Do not use fittings where the threads or seals have
worn. be wary of aluminum or brass threaded fittings for high pressure.
– 5S your hardware and label them for their type of media (gas or oil) and
pressure rating.
– Stay away from large volumes for high pressure.
– Try to stay away from using gas as a media if possible for higher pressures.
Ranges above 1000 psi (7MPa) I always try to use oil or water if compatible.

©2018 Fluke Calibration

Equipment and Hardware
• Dos and Don'ts of Hardware and general safety

– Always wear safety glasses in the lab.

– If you feel you have a leak always make sure you vent pressure before you try to
tighten fittings.
– Always make sure that high pressure supply bottles are secure. Never leave
bottles unstrapped anywhere.
– Choose larger ID tubing and fittings for lower pressure gas and oil (specially oil!)
– For high pressure keep volumes small with small IDs. More so for gas.
– Careful of filters. They can clog and cause restrictions.
– Choose valves that fit the need. Needle valves for reliability, ball valves for more
constant volume when changing state.

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Equipment and Hardware
• Other things to think about.

– Automation. Most of the hardware shown before can be replaced with

automated pressure controllers.
– Quick connects can be used on DUTs to improve process time.
– Flexible tubes are great. They can make set up time quicker. Be careful they
can be restrictive or have unstable volume (stretch right after pressurized).

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Equipment and Hardware
• Along with automated pressure calibration devices, software such as
COMPASS and Met/Cal can automate control and data acquisition.

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Environment
• For pressure calibrations the environment is dependent on the accuracy
desired.

• An industrial pressure calibration laboratory might be…

– 18 to 28°C, <5 °C/hour, non-condensing humidity, normal vibration.

• A primary laboratory might be…

– 20 to 25°C, <1 °C/hour, non-condensing humidity, vibration and air currents
isolated to the approximate level of mass calibrations.

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Procedure and Points
• As stated earlier pressure calibrations are normally over a range. The
step diagram below shows how a pressure calibration sequence might
be performed. Descending points for hysteresis
1.5

0.5

Pressure 0
0 20 40 60 80 100

-0.5

-1

-1.5
Time
2nd run for repeatability (if required)
Exercise, Preloading
not recorded
Zero adjust if available
Each step is a dwell (stabilization)
and a point taken. Many times averaged.
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Procedure and Points

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Procedure and Points

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Conclusion
• Hopefully this will get you started on pressure calibrations. Be safe and
remember you can always count on us to help.

Questions?

©2018 Fluke Calibration