ADJUSTMENTS AND

CALIBRATIONS OF MEASURING
INSTRUMENTS

LECTURE 3
Top thinking!
■ If you provide wrong and poor results to a manufacture
that makes or services aircraft, you could be putting other
people’s lives at risk. Would you put your family on that
plane?
■ Assume your results to medical equipment used to make
medical decisions that affect someone’s health. What if
among the patient will be your family member?
■ Maybe your results will be used in court as evidence which
can affect the outcome of a case. Would you be confident
if you were on trial for murder?

2
■ Calibration procedures and periodic metrological
confirmation for all the instruments for measurement in
industrial applications:
– chemical,
– petrochemical,
– pharmaceutical,
– food,
– energy, and
– custody and transfer for water, oil, and gas.

3
■ Calibration – The process of comparing the
values or measurements indicated by certain
instrument or system (Instrument Under Test, or
IUT) against those indicated by a standard
(Calibrator), under controlled test conditions.
– The output and accuracy of the standard are known, so
the measurement of a specific quantity can easily be
compared with comparable measurements from the
IUT.

4
■ A calibration report is then created, which
includes details like
– the results (pass/fail) of each parameter,
– operating or test conditions,
– industry specifications,
– acceptable tolerances, etc.

5
■Adjustment – The process of altering a measuring
instrument’s performance, so that the values indicated by it
are accurate within specified limits.
– Calibration may be carried out first, to determine the type and
magnitude of adjustment required.
The pre-adjustment calibration is also known as “found calibration”.
– After the adjustment is completed, another calibration will be
conducted to check whether the instrument’s performance has been
corrected.
– The results from the pre-adjustment equipment calibration may also
be recorded, to estimate the instrument’s change in performance
over time.

6
Parameters or Functions To Be Checked during Calibration

■ Typically, a good calibration services provider will

test the entire instrument for accuracy and
performance instead of the key functions alone.
■ Equipment calibration should be conducted for all
critical instruments. For instance, electrical
calibration may include testing devices that read
electrical data (multimeters, scope meters, clamp
meters, insulation resistance meters, power
loggers, etc.) for values like:
– Current, Voltage, Resistance, Frequency, Scope
/ Bandwidth, Temperature, Loop Impedance,
Continuity, etc. 7
■For the most common measurement instruments, it is possible
to determine the best practices for calibration procedures
suitable for industrial applications, with procedures harmonized
on the following points:
■ Scope and purpose
■ Identification and classification
■ Normative references
■ Ambient conditions
■ Initial checks
■ Calibration method
■ Calibration verification
■ Calibration results
■ Metrological confirmation

8
■ Requirements and General Guidelines for
Management of Instruments and
Measurements
1. International System of Units (SI)
2. International Calibration System (ILAC)
3. European Calibration System (EA)
4. Traceability and Compatibility of the Measures
5. Measurement Uncertainty
6. Calibration of Measuring Instruments
7. Technical Requirements in Quality Management
Systems ISO 9001, 14001, 16949, and EN 9100
9
8. Technical Requirements in Measurement Management
Systems ISO 10012
9. Criteria for Instrument Selection in Relation to the
Measurement Requirements
10.Criteria for Conformity Evaluation of the Measuring
Instruments
11.Notes to Legislative Requirements on Initial and Periodic
Calibration Checks
12.Notes to Technical Requirements on Document Management
according to FDA 21 CFR Part 11

10
■ International System of Units (SI)
■ Therefore, currently the International System is based on seven
fundamental quantities (with the respective units of measurement)
■ Is made up of other so-called derived quantities (and their units)

11
Writing Rules Used in the International
System
– a) Units writing
– A unit of measure should be written:
■ In full and without accents or diacritical marks if it is
introduced in a discursive text (e.g., leakage current
of a few milliamperes and not a few mA)
■ With the symbol if included in a formulation with
quantitative rather than qualitative value (e.g., 10
mA and not 10 milliamperes)
12
– b) Symbols writing
■ Units of measurement symbols are identified as
follows:
■ • With a small letter, if the unit is derived from the
name of a unit (e.g., m for meter, cd for candela)
■ • With a capital letter, if the unit is derived from the
name of a person (e.g., A for Ampere, V for Volta, W
for Watt)
■ The only exception is for liter, where both the
symbols l and L are acceptable.

13
– c) Quantities writing
■ Regarding quantities detected or identified by units of
measure, SI symbols:
■ • Should never be followed by a period (e.g., write 10 mm
and not 10 mm.)
■ • Should be placed after the numeric value (e.g., write 10
mm and not mm 10)
■ • Must be separated from the numeric value by a space
(e.g., write 10 mm and not 10mm)
■ • Can be derived quantities written without spaces or
interposed by “.” or “/” (e.g., Nm or N.m, ms-2 or m/s2)

14
– d) Numbers writing
■ Finally, regarding separating the numbers of the
quantity values:
■ • Use a space to separate them with the whole
numbers in groups of three (no points or commas);
for example,
■ 1 000 000 and not 1.000.000 or 1,000,000.
■ • Use a comma as the separator between the whole
numbers and decimal ones.

15
Calibration of Measuring
Instruments
■ The control of measuring instruments, namely:
– Measuring equipment in the ISO 9001 – Quality
management systems
– Surveillance equipment in the ISO 14001 –
Environmental management systems
■ ensures, where necessary for valid results, that
the measuring instruments are:
– Calibrated and verified, at specified intervals or prior
to use, against measurement standards traceable to
international or national measurement standards.
Where no such standards exist, they must be
registered with the criteria used for calibration or
verification.
– Adjusted or regulated again, when necessary. 16
– Therefore, all management systems provide the initial
calibration and any periodic “adjustment or
metrological
– confirmation” (according to ISO 10012 – Measurement
management systems) of the measuring instruments
to validate
– the various measurement processes to ensure proper
traceability of measurements to the International
System (SI) (for
– terminology, see table 6-1).

17
General Calibration Conditions

– To correctly perform a calibration, one must have

infrastructure, means, methods and procedures, and
appropriate staf, or possess the four fundamental
pillars:
Ambient Conditions
– If the measurement ambient is industrial, it is
appropriate that the measures are carried out within
these maximum limits:
– Temperature : 20 ± 5°C (or 25 ± 10°C)
– Relative humidity : 50 ± 25%
■ This contains the thermal drift of the standard and
calibration instruments. 18
■ If, however, the measurement is made in a
laboratory, it is appropriate that the measures are
carried out in controlled conditions, within these
maximum limits:
– Temperature : 20 ± 2°C for mechanical measurements,
23 ± 3°C for electrical measurements
– Relative humidity : 50 ± 10% (or ± 20%)
■ This gives better uncertainty, and therefore
traceability, of the measuring process.

19
Measurement Equipment
■ Use appropriate equipment for the measuring ranges and
the desired levels of uncertainty, traceable to the SI units
■ The reference standard instrument should still have a
measurement uncertainty of typically better than one-
third of the nominal uncertainty of the calibrated
instrument

20
Technical Personnel
■ Technical personnel should be specifically trained and
operating under the technical and management
procedures regarding the quality manual of the company
or the laboratory.
Operating Procedures
■ The operating calibration procedures should be specifically
drawn up:
– For each type of provided measurement
– For each type of instrumentation with respect to any
applicable normatives
■ In the absence of specific reference normatives, it is good
practice to follow the generic operating procedures.
21
Generic Operational
Procedures
■ Among the various international normatives
available in the field of instrumentation, reference
is made hereinafter to IEC 61298 concerning the
methods and procedures to evaluate process
instrumentation.
– It provides for the accuracy determination, namely the
error indication, of industrial measurement
instrumentation (i.e., pressure, flow, level,
temperature).

22
■ There are essentially two main procedures:
calibration and verification.
– Calibration Procedure (or Initial
Characterization)
– Verification Procedure (or Metrological
Confirmation)

23
Calibration Procedure (or Initial
Characterization)
■ This is applicable to new instrumentation.
■ Follow this methodology:
– a. With input signal of 0%, adjust the initial scale of the
instrument being calibrated.
– b. With input signal equal to 100%, adjust the full scale
of the instrument being calibrated.
– c. Return the input signal to 0%, and check the
instrument’s output signal.
■ If this error is more than one-quarter error of the nominal
value specified by the manufacturer or the user of the
instrument, readjust the initial scale to fall within the
tolerance above.
24
– d. Return the input signal to 100% and check the
instrument’s output signal.
■ If this error is more than one-quarter error of the nominal value
specified by the manufacturer or the user of the instrument,
readjust the full scale up to fall within the tolerance above.
– e. Repeat steps (c) and (d) until the initial and the full scale
are within the tolerance of one-quarter specified nominal
value.
– f. Perform the measuring cycle every 20–25% by detecting
the instrument output signal, after a sufficient period of
stabilization, in the following modes:
– 20/40/60/80/100/80/60/40/20/0%
– 25/50/75/100/75/50/25/0%

25
Verification Procedure (or Metrological Confirmation)

■ The verification procedure is applicable to instrumentation

in operation and therefore particularly suitable for the
metrological confirmation of instrumentation in production
processes.
■ Subsequently, however, it only provides for the execution
of the measuring cycle according to the method described
in the preceding calibration procedure in step (f), since the
aim of this procedure is to be seen during the metrological
confirmation in subsequent times, if the error or
uncertainty detected on the instrumentation of the
production process is better than the limit expected for
the “correct control” of the quality of the “measurement
process.”
26
General Index of the Calibration Report or
Metrological Confirmation
■ Following the calibration procedure or metrological confirmation,
note and record the results and further elaborations, on a
specific report that must contain at least the following
information:
■ A) Applicant (if applicable)
■ B) Subject of the report (calibration or confirmation)
■ C) Name or symbol of the instrument
■ D) Reference standards and calibration certificates
■ E) Procedures used
■ F) Ambient conditions
■ G) Reference values and measured errors
■ H) Measurement uncertainty resulting
■ I) Uncertainties of measurement requests
27
■ J) The result of the declaration of conformity
■ K) Execution date of the calibration or confirmation
and date of the next confirmation
■ L) Signature executor and the person responsible
for the calibration or confirmation reports

28
■ Examination of Internal or External
Calibration Feasibility of Measuring
Instruments
■ In order to properly calibrate instruments at home, in the
first analysis, a company must have at least the following
elements:
– A metrological chain, composed of at least one
standard, for each type of instrument
– Any ancillary equipment, according to
requirements (e.g., generators, furnaces)
– A local or a work area with suitable
environmental conditions to the needs
– Designed and tested calibration procedures
– Trained and qualified personnel 29
■ All this represents a significant cost that can be justified
by the amount of equipment to be calibrated, and
therefore a cost/benefit analysis on the convenience of
equipping a laboratory or on delegating calibration to an
external laboratory must be done.

30
ELEMENTS OF A CALIBRATION PROGRAM

■ The elements of the program include:

■ Selection and acquisition of equipment appropriate

to the need
■ Validation of equipment (hardware, software, and
procedures), accuracy, and precision prior to first
use
■ Suitable environmental conditions for calibration,
inspection, testing, and measurement
■ Traceability to a reference standard of known
accuracy and stability
■ Accuracy ratio
■ Frequency of calibration
■ Handling, preserving, and storage 31
 ■ Recall system for periodic maintenance, repairs,
adjustments, and recalibration
■ Establishment of procedures for periodic
recalibrations
■ Documentation
■ Selection and acquisition of appropriate equipment and
validation of their accuracy and precision are part of the
inspection or quality planning decision.

32
TRACEABILITY
■ Traceability involves the chain of measurements and
accuracy transfers that are made that connect the
nation’s standards of measurements.
■ It is important to provide the evidence that the chain
exists and that it is intact.
■ It should provide evidence that at each link in the chain or
transfer from the primary reference standards or other
secondary standards, consideration is given to the
measurement errors associated with that particular
transfer.
■ This brings us to the concepts of accuracy, precision and
accuracy ratio.

33
■ ACCURACY VERSUS PRECISION
■ These are important concepts in calibration.
■ Accuracy is defined as an agreement between the measured value
and the true value.
■ When this agreement is within acceptable range, it is called within
tolerance.
■ The precision, on the other hand, is the closeness of multiple
measurements values. Thus, an instrument can be precise but not
accurate.

34
■ ACCURACY RATIO
■ The accuracy ratio is the relation between the accuracy of the
measurement standard and the accuracy of the equipment or
instrument being calibrated.
■ In order to assign a stated accuracy to a particular characteristic
of a measuring device, it is necessary to have a device with a
“somewhat better accuracy” with which to compare.
■ The further away you go from the primary standard in terms of
the traceability chain, the worse off you are going to be in terms
of accuracy.
■ Depending on the accuracy ratio in instrument calibration,
compensation may have to be provided in the recalibration.
■ These methods may include setting tolerance bands for
accuracy, correction factors, statistical methods, replicated
testing, and other more sophisticated techniques.

35
• National metrology
institute National
standard
• Accredited
calibration
laboratory
Reference
standards
• Internal calibration
laboratory Working
or factory
standards
36
Assignment Two
■ Visit one licensed laboratory and authority responsible to
offer the respective license. Explain the functions of the
laboratory visited and the requirements and procedures
to obtain a license of a calibration laboratory in Tanzania.
■ Visit two or more vehicle repair stations to learn more
about wheel-aligning process. Explain in details the
wheel-aligning process and measurements required.
– Give the diference between the conventional versus
digital system.
Date due: November 30th , 2018 at
Noon
Format: Hardcopy and softcopy,

37