Ministry of Higher Education and

Scientific Research ‫وزارة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي‬

AL-Nahrain University ‫جامعة النهرين‬
College of Engineering ‫كلية الهندسة‬
Chemical Engineering Department ‫قسم الهندسة الكيمياوية‬

Experiment 1
Calibration of Bourdon
Gauge

Name of student: Nazar Basim Amberim.

Class: 2
No. of Experiment: 1
Date: 11 /03/ 2019
 Experiment 1
Calibration of Bourdon Gauge

Objective:
1. To explain mechanism and operating Bourdon- tube pressure gauge.
2. To determine the percentage of error for Bourdon- tube pressure gauge by using a
number of standard units of pressure.

Introduction
The standard units of pressure are the Pascal (Pa) and Newton’s per square meter
(N/m2),but some sources use the non-standard unit of a bar.
1 Pa= 1 N/m2 = 1 Kg/(m.s2) = 10-5 bar or 0.01 mbar.
A 10 m high column of clean water at 4oc will produce 98 Kpa (0.98 Kn/m2) of
pressure.Next,a 100 mm high column of clean water at 4oc will produce 980 Pa (980
N/m2) of pressure. Pressure is a measure of force over a given area. Normal atmospheric
pressure is an absolute pressure measurement (with respect to a perfect vacuum) and
shown as approximately 15 pounds per square in (PSI) or 1 bar or 100 Kpa or 100
KN/m2.Normal gauge(such as the gauge in this experiment) show pressure with respect
to atmosphere, so when the gauge shows zero pressure, its input is open to atmospheric
pressure or at a pressure equivalent to atmospheric, The pressure shown by these gauges
is termed ‘gauge pressure’. With Equipment’s Calibration of a pressure gauge, you apply
a known force (the dead weight) to a plunger piston in a cylinder with a certain cross-
sectional area. The force (W) that the weight applies to the water in the cylinder is equal
to the product of the mass (in Kg) and the acceleration due to gravity.
W=mg
The pressure (p) caused by the force is therefore the force divided by the cross-sectional
area of the cylinder (A),over which the force is applied:
P= W/A
The relative heights of the cylinder and gauge are similar, so there is very little “pressure
head” difference between them caused by different heights of water.Therefore,the
pressure is constant from the cylinder to the Bourdon gauge, so the gauge should give a
direct reading of the pressure caused by the dead weight on the piston. From equation 1
and 2:

p=mg/A
Equipment’s and apparatus:
The Bourdon pressure gauge shown in Figure below has a transparent dial through which
the construction may be viewed. It consists essentially of a thin-walled tube of oval cross-
section, which is bent to a circular arc encompassing approximately 270'. It is rigidly held at
one end, when the pressure is admitted. The other end is free to move and is sealed. When
pressure is applied, the tube tends to straighten, so that the free end moves slightly. This
movement operates a mechanism which drives a pointer round the graduated dial, the
movement of the pointer being proportional to the applied pressure. The construction of the
dead weight tester is also shown in figure below. A cylindrical piston, free to move
vertically in a closely-fitting cylinder, is loaded with known weights. The space below the
piston is filled with water, and the pressure is transmitted by the water to the gauge under
test through a transparent hose. The pressure generated by the piston is easily found in
terms of the total weight supported and the cross-sectional area of the piston.
Procedure:
a) Record the cross-sectional area and the mass of the plunger (piston) and the
weight platform. The details are written on the label fixed to the apparatus.
b) Create a blank table of results similar to Table.
c) Ensure the apparatus is level and that you have no trapped air in the tube or
cylinder.
d) Add the weights (masses) to the weight platform in approximately five increments
up to a maximum of 0.5 kg. Do not exceed 3.5 kg.Always loads the masses
gradually, do not drop then into the platform. Record the pressure gauge reading
as each mass is added. To prevent the piston sticking, rotate the piston gently as
each mass is added.
e) Remove the masses in the reverse order as you added them. Record the pressure
gauge reading as you remove each mass.
f) From your results, calculate the actual pressure (p) and total mass (M) as
described in section 3.Plot graphs of the gauge pressure against actual pressure
and gauge error against actual pressure

Theory of experiment
To calculate the percentage of error:

𝐹
𝐹 =𝑚 ×𝑔 𝑆. 𝑃. =
𝐴

𝑛𝑑 2 𝑆.𝑃.−𝐴.𝐺.𝑃
𝐴= 𝑃. 𝐸. = | | × 100 %
4 𝑆.𝑃

To calculate the total percentage of error:

∑ 𝑃. 𝐸
𝑇. 𝑃. 𝐸 = × 100 %
𝑁
Where :
P.E. = Percentage of error (%). T.P.E. = Total Percentage Of Error (%)
S.P. = Standard pressure. N = Number of reading.
A.G.P = Average gauge pressure.
Reading:
Mass of piston = 1 kg
Weight of piston = 9.81 N
Cross-Sectional area = 315 mm2 = 315 *10-6 m2

No. Mass (kg) Gauge pressure increasing (bar) Gauge pressure decreasing (bar)
1 0.5 50 50
2 1.0 67 68
3 1.5 80 86
4 2.5 115 128
5 3.5 154 154

Calculation and results:

No. Mass Force (N) S.P. (bar) Gauge pressure Gauge pressure Average Gauge Percentage of
(kg) (m*g) (F/A) increasing (bar) decreasing (bar) pressure (bar) error (%)
1 0.5 4.9 15571.4 50 50 50 0.997
2 1.0 9.81 31142.9 67 68 67.5 0.998
3 1.5 14.7 46714.3 80 86 83 0.998
4 2.5 24.5 77857.1 115 128 121.5 0.998
5 3.5 34.3 109000 154 154 154 0.998
Sum 4.989

∑ 𝑃.𝐸
𝑇. 𝑃. 𝐸 = × 100 %
𝑁

4.989
𝑇. 𝑃. 𝐸 = × 100 %
5

𝑇. 𝑃. 𝐸 = 99.78%
Discussion
1- Define the absolute, gauge and vacuum pressure?
- Absolute pressure: is as the pressure which is measure with reference to absolute
vacuum pressure.
- Gauge pressure: is defined as the pressure which is measured with the help of a
pressure measure instrument, in which atmospheric pressure is taken as datum. the
atmospheric pressure on scale is marked as zero.
- Vacuum pressure: is defined as the pressure below the atmospheric pressure.
The error is caused by:
 The reading.
 Losses from device.

3- What are the advantage and disadvantage of bourdon- tube gauge?

- Advantages of Bourdon tube
1- Cheaper in cost and simple in construction.
2- It has excellent sensitivity.
3- It has high accuracy.
4- For higher pressure bourdon tubes provide higher accuracy.
5- It is used to measure vacuum pressure.
6- It is available for various ranges.

- Disadvantages of Bourdon tube

1- Slow response to change in pressure.
2- Prone to shock and vibrations.
3- It is subjected to hysteresis.
4- Not suitable for low pressure application

4- Why the piston rotating until it’ s freely suspend ?

- Because of a rotary piston creates the pressure.
5- What are the sources of error in the experiment?
1- Wear and backlash in the gauge linkage can increase or decrease the
Pressure.

2- Air bubbles inside the tester unit may result in inaccurate reading.
3- Static friction between the piston and cylinder, yield smaller gauge
reading.
4- Human error.

In this experiment we have using the pressure gauge by weight on presses who pay the
oil within the tube and the cycle presses the air inside the tube of copper and are self of
pressure and flexible copper tends to the tube on engine of scale.

Conclusion:

In this experiment, our task was to calibrate a Bourdon tube gauge. The result obtained
shows the calibration curve of the measurement system. The curve represent relation
between a known input (mass) and a measuring instrument (pressure). The relation
between the applied mass and the gauge pressure is determined using linear regression.
The fitted curve is linear. The sensitivity of the pressure gauge is the slope of the
calibration curve and equal to (0.29 Kg/bar).