How to Participate in an Interlaboratory Comparison (ILC) Many force calibration laboratories need help proving out their measurement capability. The ISO/IEC 17025:2005 listed interlaboratory comparisons (ILCs) in section 5.9.1. However, historically ILCs were not organized or completed because other less complicated methods were acceptable for monitoring the validity of the results. The current ISO/IEC 17025:2017 […]
How Do I Calculate TUR? How to Calculate TUR. Correctly calculating Test Uncertainty Ratio (TUR) is crucial because it is a commonly accepted practice when making a statement of conformity. It helps you analyze measurement risk and is often used in decision rules. Although TUR is defined in the ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 Handbook and ILAC G8, […]
Why Don’t My Load Cell Force Measurements Match My Calibration Report? You send your load cell out for calibration. When it returns, you begin using the load cell but notice that your measurements don’t agree with what the calibration lab reported. Why is there a discrepancy? This question has been posed to us in slightly […]
Top 5 Specifications to Consider for Load Cell Accuracy One of the most important considerations when purchasing a load cell is its accuracy. However, a load cell datasheet typically does not contain all the specifications needed to determine an accuracy statement. Which specification on a typical datasheet is most important? Do all specifications impact accuracy? […]
3 Ways to Prevent Damage to Your Force Calibration Equipment The purchase of force calibration equipment coupled with the calibration cost can be a large investment. Good, quality equipment provides a steady return on your investment for many years. Unfortunately, we see a lot of equipment damage such as broken connectors, severed cables, damaged load […]
The New Dimension to Resolution: Can it be Resolved? Our last blog, Device Resolution and the Impact on Consumer Risk, described why best practices should be followed for conformity assessments rather than drafting individual test protocols and standards. How should manufacturers and calibration laboratories correctly calculate both uncertainty and risk on equipment? Risk, Conformity Assessment, […]
Device Resolution and the Impact on Consumer Risk - Intro If a device's uncertainty has too coarse of a resolution, then you need a device that does not subject the conformance decision to higher risk. This blog will present examples that demonstrate why best practices should be followed for conformity assessments rather than drafting individual […]
TAR versus TUR: Why TAR should RIP ASAP In our last blog, Examining the History of TAR and TUR, we examined several outdated, and to some extent wrong, practices, such as Test Accuracy Ratios (TARs) and requesting NIST traceable calibrations. Remember when they buried the word "DEF"? Maybe we, as metrologists, need to do that […]
Examining the History of TAR and TUR Why examine TAR and TUR? Hasn’t each topic been covered for decades now? When we look at TAR and TUR concepts, we find that many in the metrology community have adopted TUR. Both guidance documents and standards have moved away from TAR. However, when we look at the […]