ncsl03

logo

 

Home

Program

Search Proceedings

Author Index

About NCSLI

Contact NCSLI

CD Tech Support

 

 

 

 

Session:

10B - AC Metrology 

Date & Time:

Thursday August 10, 10:45 AM - 12:15 PM

Paper Title:

Improvements in the NIST Calibration Service for Thermal Converters and Thermal Transfer Standards 

 

 

Speaker:

Thomas Lipe, Physicist  

CoAuthors:

Joseph R. Kinard, June E. Sims 

Speaker Info

Company:

NIST

Department:

Quantum Electrical Metrology Division

Address:

100 Bureau Drive, M/S 8171
Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-8171, United States

Phone:

301-975-4251

Fax:

301-926-3972

Email:

thomas.lipe@nist.gov 

 

 

Abstract:

We report on multiple improvements made in the calibration services offered for thermal converters and thermal transfer standards in the AC-DC Difference Standards and Measurement Techniques Project at NIST during the past year. The major improvement in this calibration is the consolidation of three disparate calibration services - low voltage thermal transfer standards, low-frequency thermal converters, and RF-dc difference calibrations - into the AC-DC Project. This consolidation has the immediate benefit of offering NIST calibration customers one source for ac-dc calibrations from 2 mV to 1000 V and from 10 Hz to 1 GHz. In addition, bringing these calibration services together results in a marked improvement in efficiency, allowing us to lower the fees for thermal converter calibrations, and reduce the turnaround time for calibrations. Finally, the new combined calibration service will implement recent technical achievements in the AC-DC Project to reduce the uncertainties offered for thermal converter calibrations. These technical advances include the incorporation of multijunction thermal converters (MJTCs) as working standards from 2 V to 150 mV at frequencies from 10 Hz to 1 MHz (and possibly higher), and the introduction of an intrinsic ac source to provide a voltage reference at 50 mV and 100 mV. Both the introduction of MJTCs as working standards and the inclusion of the intrinsic ac standard will allow us to measure voltages below 1 V without the laborious range-to-range scaling process, and lead to reduced uncertainties at low voltages. In addition, the continuity between the previous low-frequency (up to 1 MHz) calibration service and the RF-dc service will likely lead to reduced uncertainties at frequencies above 100 kHz. 

 

 

 

 

NCSL International © 2006 All Rights Reserved
2995 Wilderness Place, Suite 107, Boulder, Colorado 80301-5404
Tel: (303) 440-3339 Fax: (303) 440-3384
info@ncsli.org

 

CD-ROM Produced by X-CD Technologies