Save Time and Money with an Automated Pressure Calibrator

In this industry, we know too well the stringent requirements for calibration of your instrumentation. Whether it’s sending your product out to a lab or calibrating in-house, the process takes both time and money. In what ways can you minimize both costs and hours spent without your instrument? Well, in this blog post will be discussing the advantages of portable, automated calibrators, as well as what features to look for during the buying process.

Initial Investment vs. ROI Time Savings

As many users know, calibration on field instruments can take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours, and often need recalibration every 3 to 6 to 12 months. In many cases, there are multiple instruments in need of refreshed calibration certificates on a regular, rotating basis.

When it comes to purchasing new pressure calibration equipment, customers, too often, are scared away by the sticker price of an automated system and opt for a more traditional and economical manual pump and reference gauge. Any calibration technician can attest to the frustrations of leaks, temperature effects, and other environmental stimulants that can affect the pressure readings. This causes uncertainty in the data and can make the technician take more time on a single unit.

While the initial cost of ownership of an automated calibrator is greater than these other manual options, the automated control of the calibration process eliminates all of the frustrations we discussed above. This allows calibration of instruments to be performed in a fraction of the time it would take with a manual calibration system. Not only are we saving time and money, we are eliminating uncertainty and we will get more accurate calibration data. Better calibration results yield a better process performance on the whole.

So in short, the cost may be high, but there are aspects of automation that drive the ROI to an extreme. More accurate calibrations in a fraction of the time make the initial investment palatable in a very short amount of time.

The Options: Portable Automated Pressure Calibrators

When it comes to automated pressure calibration, the products are not low budget but they are high quality, highly reliable and highly accurate. Not only will your calibrator last, but your calibration data can be trusted and you can take a break while the automated calibrator does the work. Below are a few options for portable automatic pressure calibrators to get you started:

1. Setra Microcal

A stand-alone calibration standard, the Setra Microcal is an automatic pressure calibrator that boasts low-range dual reference pressure sensors with NIST traceability, a 7” touchscreen display and an intuitive menu structure. This standard is intended for critical environments and Setra has partnered with NASA to include their patented technology to achieve a 0.0002" W.C/step resolution.

2. Additel 760

Weighing in at less than 4lbs, the Additel 760 is a portable automated pressure calibrator comes with a built-in pump, large touchscreen display, and options to add HART communications and data logging. Like the Setra Microcal, the ADT 760 is geared toward low-pressure calibrations. If you need to calibrate lower than ±30 inH2O (±75 mbar), you have the option to purchase an additional internal pressure module that ranges down to ±0.25 inH2O (±0.62 mbar). You can read more information on the additional ADT155 sensor here.

3. Additel 761A

Like the Additel 760, the 761A is a fully automated pressure calibrator. With its built-in pump and precision technology, the user is able to set a desired pressure and let the calibrator complete the process. For a deeper dive into this calibrator, see our recent blog post here. A few advantages over the 760 include an increased pressure range to 1000 psi, increased speed to pressure, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities. Click here to read more about the Additel 761A.

4. Fluke 729

The Fluke 729 pressure calibrator boasts built-in HART communication and three pressure range options from -12 up to 30, 150 and 300 psi and comes with a 3 year warranty. The Fluke 729 also has the option to add Fluke Connect, a software that allows remote monitoring via a custom mobile app. In addition, you can log events and store pressure measurements through the Android or iOS compatible app.

Still Need Help? Call an Engineer Today

If this post still leaves you wondering what type of industrial instrumentation would work best for your application, our engineers would be happy to help you. Give them a call at 1-800-884-4967. Or, you can shop for a wide range of industrial instrumentation from top brands and even configure your product online. We offer free lifetime tech support with every product sold.