NIST Calibration Services: Pressure Measurements

Thermodynamic Quantities

Pressure Measurements

Technical Contacts:
Douglas A. Olson (all services)
Tel: 301/975-2956
E-mail: douglas.olson@nist.gov

R. Gregory Driver
Tel: 301/975-4832
E-mail: rdriver@nist.gov

Do not ship instruments or standards to the mailing address listed below. Contact the technical staff for the shipping address.

Mailing Address:
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8364
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8364
Fax: 301/975-5969

Service ID Number	Description of Services	Fee ($)
29010C	Deadweight Piston Gages	6841
29020C	Controlled Clearance Piston Gages	At Cost
29030C	Pressure Gages and Transducers	At Cost
29035C	Non-mercurial Barometers and Manometers	At Cost
29040S	Special Tests of Pressure Gages	At Cost

Fees are subject to change without notice.

Piston Gauges and Pressure Transducers (29010C-29035C)

NIST provides calibration services for a variety of pressure instruments including dead weight piston gauges, ball gages, pressure transducers, pressure gauges, non-mercurial barometers, and manometers in both gas and oil media using piston gauges as the reference standard. The range for gas is 10 kPa to 104 MPa, and the range for oil is 1 MPa to 280 MPa. Certain of these devices can also be calibrated using the NIST Ultrasonic Interferometer Manometer at pressures of 360 kPa and below; please see NIST Calibration Services: NIST Special Low Pressure Calibration 30040S .

Calibrations in the present service are performed against a range of piston gauge standards. Typically, the customer's instrument is calibrated against the NIST standard that best matches the desired pressure range and media. An item can be calibrated against more than one NIST standard, however it will be charged as a multiple calibration. Most NIST standards operate over a pressure range between 20:1 and 10:1. Gas media calibrations are performed with nitrogen up to 17 MPa, and with helium above 17 MPa. The "gage" mode is used for all oil calibrations and most gas calibrations; certain gas calibrations can also be performed in the "absolute" mode upon request.

The NIST piston gage standards and their relative expanded uncertainties (k=2) are listed in Table 6.1.Uncertainties of the calibrated instrument include additional Type A and Type B uncertainties of the calibration process, added to those of Table 6.1, using the room-sum-square method.

Table 6.1. Relative Expanded Uncertainties of Piston Gauge Standards in Gage Mode

Media	Nominal Area of Standard (mm²)	Pressure Range	Relative Expanded Uncertainty (k=2)
Gas	335.7	10 kPa to 150 kPa	10 x 10^-6to 24 x 10^-6
	335.8	20 kPa to 300 kPa	8 x 10^-6to 11 x 10^-6
	84.0	35 kPa to 1.4 MPa	9 x 10^-6to 12 x 10^-6
	8.39	360 kPa to 7 MPa	12 x 10^-6to 18 x 10^-6
	8.39	700 kPa to 17 MPa	14 x 10^-6to 40 x 10^-6
	8.38	9 MPa to 104 MPa	39 x 10^-6
Oil	84.0	1 MPa to 26 MPa	22 x 10^-6
	16.8	14 MPa to 140 MPa	37 x 10^-6
	8.40	14 MPa to 280 MPa	32 x 10^-6

Special Tests of Pressure Gages (29040S)

Special tests of pressure gauges and other pressure measuring devices may be performed on request. This includes, special test 30040S for deadweight piston gages against the UIM, an absolute mode test in the pressure range 7 kPa to 360 kPa that can provide relative expanded uncertainties that are smaller than those given in Table 6.1. Call Mr. Driver for further information about this service.

References-Pressure Measurements

Final report on APMP.SIM.M.P-K1c. Bilateral comparison between NIST (USA) and NPLI (India) in the pneumatic pressure region 0.4 MPa to 40 MPa, R. G. Driver, D. A. Olson, D. Dilawar, A. K. Bandyopadhyay, Metrologia 44 Technical Supplement 07002 (2007).

Primary pressure standards based on dimensionally characterized piston-cylinder assemblies, J. W. Schmidt, K. Jain, A. P. Miiller, W. J. Bowers, D. A. Olson, Metrologia 43, 53-59 (2006).

Final report on APMP.SIM.M.P-K7, Bilateral comparison between NIST (USA) and NPLI (India) in the hydraulic region between 40 MPa and 200 MPa, R. G. Driver, D. A. Olson, S. Yadav, A. K. Bandyopadhyay, Metrologia 43 Technical Supplement 07003 (2006).

Characterization of a compact 200 MPa controlled clearance piston gauge as a primary standard using the Heydemann and Welch method, A. K. Bandyopadhyay, D. A. Olson, Metrologia 43, 573-582 (2006).

Final report of Key Comparison CCM.P-K7 in the Range 10 MPa to 100 MPa of Hydraulic Gauge Pressure, W. Sabuga, M. Bergoglia, T. Rabault, B. Waller, J. C. Torres, D. A. Olson, A. Agarwal, T. Kobata, A. K. Bandyopadhyay, Metrologia 42 Technical Supplement 07005 (2005).

Accurate determination of equilibrium state between two pressure balances using a pressure transducer, T. Kobata, D. A. Olson, Metrologia 42, S231-S234 (2005).

Characterization of a controlled-clearance piston gauge using the Heydemann-Welch model, T. Kobata, D. A. Olson, J. W. Schmidt, Transactions of the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers 39, 349-356 (2003).

A double-primary dead-weight tester for pressures (35-175) kPa in gage mode, K. Jain, Y. Q. Cen, W. J. Bowers, J. W. Schmidt, J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 108, 11-20 (2003).

A model for drag forces in the crevice of piston gauges in the viscous-flow and molecular-flow regimes, J. W. Schmidt, S. A. Tison, C. D. Ehrlich, Metrologia 36, 565-570 (1999).

Research at High Pressures (Primary Pressure Standards) , J. S. Schmidt, D. B. Ward, and S. A. Tison, Proc. 1997 Natl. Conf. Stand. Lab., Workshop and Symp.

Development of High Pressure (110 MPa) Gas Calibration Service at NIST , S. W. Doty, C. D. Ehrlich, R. F. Kayser and S. A. Tison, Proc. Of the 1995 Measurement Science Conference.

A Look at Uncertainties over Twenty Decades of Pressure Measurement, C. D. Ehrlich, Proc. of the XIII IMEKO World Congress (Sept. 1994).

An Intercomparison Between NPL (India) and NIST (USA) Pressure Standards in the Hydraulic Pressure Region up to 28 MPa , J. K. N. Sharma, K. K. Jain, C. D. Ehrlich, J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 99 (6), 725-729 (1994).

Elastic Distortion Calculations on a Special Piston Gage (PG27) up to 28 Mpa in Different Operational Modes , G. F. Molinar, P. C. Cresto, C. Ehrlich and J. Houck, Metrologia 30 (6) (1994).

A Review of the State of the Art in Gas-Operated Piston Gages , C. D. Ehrlich, Metrologia 30 (6), 585 (1994).

Operational Mode and Gas Species Effects on Rotational Drag in Pneumatic Dead Weight Pressure Gages , J. W. Schmidt, B. E. Welch and C.D. Ehrlich, Meas. Sci. Technol. 4, 26-34 (1993).

Intercomparison of the effective Areas of a Pneumatic Piston Gage Determined by Different Techniques , K. Jain, C. Ehrlich, J. Houck and J. K. N. Sharma, Meas. Sci. Technol. 4, 249-257 (1993).

Intercomparison of Hydraulic Pressure Measurements to 28 MPa using a Single Piston Gage in time Controlled-Clearance, Reentrant and Simple Configurations , K. Jain, C. Ehrlich and J. Houck, Review of Scientific Instruments 3, 3127, (1992).

The Reduction of Uncertainties for Absolute Piston Gage Pressure Measurements in the Atmospheric Pressure Range, B. E. Welch, R. E. Edsinger, V. E. Bean and C. D. Ehrlich, J. Res. Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. 94, 343 (Nov.-Dec. 1989).

Practical Uncertainty Limits to the Mass Determination of a Piston-Gage Weight , R. S. Davis and B. E. Welch, J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand. (U.S.), 93 (4), 565-571 (1988).

International Comparison in the Pressure Range 20-100 MPa, J.C. Legras, S.L. Lewis, G. F. Molinar, Metrologia 25, 21-28 (1988).

The Pressure Balance, Theory and Practice, R. S. Dadson, S. L. Lewis, and G. N. Peggs, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, London, England (1982).

Piston Gages, P. L. M. Heydemann and B. E. Welch, Chapter 4, Experimental Thermodynamics, Vol. II, in Experimental Thermodynamics of Non-Reacting Fluids, B. Le Neindre and B. Vodar, Eds., Part 3, 147, Butterworth and Co., London, England (1975).

Date created: 06/30/1999
Last updated: 12/10/2008