INNOVATIONS TO MINIMIZE UNCERTAINTY
Two decades ago, DH Instruments PG7000 family of piston gauges introduced the advantages of on-board sensing and monitoring technology, as well as other performance and ergonomic enhancements. The PG9000 platform adds several innovations to improve pressure measurements even further.
The platform consists of a piston gauge base, terminal and new remote electronics module. The terminal is the user interface. It stores metrological component data, reports operating and ambient condition status and calculates pressure.
The PG9000 piston gauge base supports automatic piston-cylinder rotation and mass handling, but all of the electronics to support the sensors and rotation control have been relocated to a remote electronics module. This architecture supports the best possible temperature stability at the base, even with prolonged vacuum operation, since any significant sources of heat are located away from the base.
The PG9602 mounting post has two integrated PRTs for reduced piston-cylinder temperature uncertainty. The PRTs are easily removed for calibration. A capacitance diaphragm gauge is included in the optional vacuum reference hardware for making residual vacuum measurements in absolute mode. PG9602 can also integrate the measurement output from virtually any user-supplied vacuum sensor.
METROLOGY SUPPORTED BY AUTOMATION
AMH automated mass handling technology is expanded on PG9602 to provide gauge and absolute operation with up to a 100 kg mass load. Eliminating manual mass loading minimizes mechanical wear, improving mass stability. The automated mass handler operates inside the evacuated bell jar, so the time to release and draw a vacuum while changing masses between test points is eliminated. The sustained vacuum produces lower and more static residual vacuum values. Total test time and productivity are greatly improved, especially on absolute pressure tests. More importantly, full automation promotes highly consistent measurements and allows extensive tests with many test points that would be impractical to perform manually. And with the help of calibration management software like COMPASS® for Pressure, tests can be run fully unattended.