Calibrating a force transducer 

NPL's force calibrations set the standard

Force measurement is of fundamental importance to many industrial sectors including aerospace, automotive, and offshore. Product liability and safety issues demand that force measurements are traceable to national standards in areas such as the use of seat belts and airbags in vehicles. Competitive advantage can be gained from accurate force measurement, e.g. stress resistance of wing struts and landing gear. Force measurement is also an essential part of materials testing and weighing, and the need for traceable measurements to a national standard features prominently in the certification to ISO 9000 for both industrial and regulatory force measurements.

To meet this need, NPL offers a wide range of UKAS-accredited force calibration services using the UK's national force standards machines, which are accepted internationally through the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement. These services cover the calibration of most commercially available force transducers (including load cells, proving rings, and shear beams) to the BS EN ISO 376, BS 8422, and ASTM E 74 standards, and to a documented in-house procedure 'Calibrating a force transducer'.

As the UK’s national standards laboratory, NPL’s extensive range of facilities provide for calibration of force transducers from 1.5 N up to 5 MN in tension and compression, and up to 30 MN in compression only.

NPL provides a UKAS-accredited service for force transducer calibrations up to 5 MN in accordance with BS EN ISO 376, BS 8422, ASTM E 74, and a documented in-house procedure.

Measurement range and uncertainties using the following methods are:

• Handweights from 1.5 N to 500 N at ±0.008 %
• Deadweight machines from 25 N to 1.2 MN at ±0.001 %
• Hydraulic amplification machines from 100 kN to 5 MN at ±0.05 %
• Hydraulic machines from 150 kN to 30 MN at ±0.9 % or better

A complete service

A flexible approach by our experienced staff meets the needs of accredited laboratories and industry by providing:

• Calibration to customers' in-house quality procedures and protocols
• Hire of NPL force calibration machines with a trained operator
• Calibration of industrial force standard machines and testing machines

Contact NPL today to discuss your specific force calibration requirements.

Contact

Customer Service tel: +44 20 8943 6315
E-mail: force_enquiries@npl.co.uk