Comparison Demonstrates Factor of Three Improvement in Gas Flow Measurements

Published

July 21, 2021

Author(s)

John D. Wright, Gina Kline, Kevin John, Brian Novitsky, Jason Bellavance, Kevin SHufelt, Bradley Nease, Miles Owen, Joseph Allen, Casey Rombouts, William Gause, John Cuccio

Abstract

A comparison of seven gas flow calibration laboratories piloted by NIST used four laminar flow meters as the transfer standards for nine nitrogen gas flows ranging from 1 sccm to 10 slm. The comparison reference value was calculated from the uncertainty weighted average of the three participants with independent flow traceability chains. The 63 comparison results were evaluated by the traditional criterion (normalized degree of equivalence, |En | ≤ 1) and also by a probabilistic criterion that allows the possibility of inconclusive results. The |En | ≤ 1 criterion determined that 2 of the 63 results were outside of uncertainty expectations. The probability based criterion found the same 2 results were outside of uncertainty expectations and 3 results were inconclusive. Based on these results and other evidence, all participants were found proficient over the range of flows they tested. A comparison of the present results to those from a similar comparison between four of the same participants conducted in 2003 shows that the labs have improved their flow measurement capabilities by a factor of three.

Citation

Cal Lab: International Journal of Metrology

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

comparison, gas flow, calibration, degree of equivalence

Citation

Wright, J. , Kline, G. , John, K. , Novitsky, B. , Bellavance, J. , SHufelt, K. , Nease, B. , Owen, M. , Allen, J. , Rombouts, C. , Gause, W. and Cuccio, J. (2021), Comparison Demonstrates Factor of Three Improvement in Gas Flow Measurements, Cal Lab: International Journal of Metrology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=932325 (Accessed October 9, 2025)