Bios Flow Measurement Blog

Precision Recalibration Now Available in Europe!

Bios International is pleased to announce a new service center in the Netherlands that will streamline the processes of repairing and obtaining high-precision recalibration for clients in Europe.

Bios International’s gas flow calibrators -- featuring our proven DryCal technology -- guarantee an accuracy of 0.25%, or even 0.15% on some models. This precision is traceable to NIST and accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP).

To maintain calibration equipment functioning within this precise range, annual recalibration is recommended. Previously, clients sent their equipment for calibration to the Bios International lab in Butler, NJ, one of the world’s most accurate ISO 17025-laboratories, accredited to within 0.071% uncertainty.

Now, TPF Control in Wijchen, Netherlands can also service Bios International’s DC-1& DC-2, DC-Lite, Definer 220, and the Bios Defender 510 and 520 products, making reliable recalibration easily available in Europe.

“Having this capability in the Netherlands will save our customers both time and expense, ‘ says Scott Calvert, COO at Bios International. “We’ve eliminated the need for trans-Atlantic shipping of their valuable equipment, which reduces cost and downtime in the labs.”

For the convenience of clients throughout Europe, TPF Control offers service in several languages, including English, Dutch and German.

Upcoming Shows and Events!

The Definer 1020 debuted to rave reviews at the Measurement Science Conference in Anaheim, CA in March!

You can see it for yourself at another of our upcoming events this year. Stop by the Bios booth at these shows, or call ahead (888-663-4977) to schedule a conversation with one of our team members!

National Air Quality Conference
April 6-9, 2008
Portland OR Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront Hotel
http://airnow.gov

American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo
June 2-4, 2008
Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, MN
www.aiha.org

NCLS International: Metrology’s Impact on Business
August 3-7, 2008
WDW Swan & Dolphin Hotel, Orlando, FL
www.ncsli.org/conference/2008/

Why Calibrate My Bios Equipment? It’s A Primary Standard...

Everybody knows you don’t have to calibrate a primary standard, right? Well, . . . in a perfect world that would be true.

BUT, a Bios product is a machine. In fact, it’s a highly intricate piece of scientific equipment, made up of moving parts. Moving parts wear down, malfunction, get dirty and are inadvertently damaged. DryCal piston provers are subjected to particulate matter, all different gases and many strange atmospheric conditions. They get wet, are not handled as if they are fragile, and are also (gasp) dropped! Therefore, it is wise to verify the calibration annually to be sure it’s still perfectly accurate.

Our clients demand absolute precision, so we provide recalibration for our equipment in our own laboratory that is literally the most accurate commercial lab in the world for the calibration of air and gas flow in our ranges.

The Bios facility is accredited by NVLAP of NIST to ISO 17025, ANSI Z-540 and NIST Handbook 150. We are the only authorized service center for our Proven Dry Cal Technology equipment. Another ISO 17025 lab may perform a calibration – like goes to like. But remember, recalibration is NOT recertification. Only Bios can do that.

When you send your equipment in to us, it undergoes a rigorous testing process. The maintenance of your Proven Dry Cal Technology product is actually a full refurbishment! Our service manual describes the process in detail, but you can rest assured that by the time we finish cleaning, rebuilding and updating your unit and then put it through dynamic flow comparisons before we release it, it’s as good as or better than it was when it was new. Then we issue you a certification, traceable directly to NIST, to provide you with a secure audit trail.

The stakes are high since you rely on your primary standard machinery to monitor the safety of your employees and the environment. Proper recalibration and recertification protects them – and you.

To learn more about recalibration of Bios DryCal technology equipment, visit our website at www.biosint.com.

Definer 1020 Introduces Flow Calibration For Up to 500 Liters Per Minute

BUTLER, NJ - Bios today introduced the Definer 1020, the latest and highest- capacity application of its Proven DryCal technology. The Definer 1020 is a gas flow calibrator with a range of from 5 to 500 liters per minute - up to 10 times the volume of any other piston-prover device on the market.

The innovative Definer 1020 provides flow professionals with an automated piston calibrator that is portable, easy to operate and precise, according to Harvey Padden, founder and president of Bios and developer of the unique DryCal technology.

"The Definer 1020 is a true primary flow standard," he explained. "It's has a precision of 0.25 percent per reading, traceable to standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and accredited by the NVLAP. Moreover, people in calibration labs or complex process controls can actually move the Definer 1020 easily, unlike the old, cumbersome bell provers they've relied on for more than a century. It's easy to operate, too."

The reliability and convenience of the Definer 1020 will allow calibration labs to expand into flow measurement, in response to the growing importance of accurate high-volume gas sampling in keeping complex process-control systems operating at peak efficiency. It will soon become a fundamental piece of equipment for any flow laboratory.

"I have an inventor's pride in what the Bios team of engineers has accomplished with the 1020," said Padden. "And the market has responded very well to our other applications of DryCal technology for industrial hygiene and safety, environmental protection and sophisticated laboratory and workplace needs. I believe we'll see the same response with our latest innovation."

The Definer 220 introduced by Bios last year is portable and primary, and proved highly popular with environmental professionals as a good check standard for the dynamic gas calibrators in ambient air monitors. In addition, the Definer 220 won the 2007 Product Innovation Award from Flow Control magazine.

Proven DryCal Technology is a liquid-free gas flow measurement system that doesn't rely on soap bubbles for measurement, oil or mercury to form a gas-tight seal, or non-primary thermal mass flow readings that must be backward calculated to obtain volumetric flow.

Bios also is ISO 17025 accredited by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), the third-party accrediting body of NIST.

Additional information regarding the Definer 1020 and other Bios products can be found at www.biosint.com.

ISO 17025 v. ISO 9000 – What’s the Difference?

Years ago, there was a television commercial featuring a shabby looking mechanic in a run down garage who said, “Cool, I’ve always wanted to work on a transmission.” The message was clear. Why trust your car and family safety to someone who is not an expert? Go to someone you know can do the job – a transmission specialist.

The same rule of thumb applies to verifying the accuracy of your instrumentation – why go to someone who has not taken the time and effort to perfect their calibrations, someone whose own claims are open to question? Questions about the accuracy of your equipment can often lead to many thousands of dollars (or more) in litigation fees when there is no proof that the accuracy and dependability of your conclusions are based on set standards and procedures. This is where ISO 17025 comes into play.

There are ISO accreditations for different fields; these are quality standards set by the International Standards Organization. ISO 9000 is the accreditation standard for manufacturing facilities. ISO 17025 is the one that specifically applies to accuracy of calibration. To receive this accreditation, laboratories must meet rigorous requirements in areas of operation, including but not limited to, certification by a third party, professional training, customer and technical support and estimated uncertainty, which is the mathematical description of errors associated with any given measurement. This trail backs up the laboratory’s accuracy claims, which are also verified by comparison of the lab applying for the accreditation with other national and international laboratories. You can rely upon the fact that using instrumentation from an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory will guarantee that your equipment is calibrated to the highest standard.

Bios International is one of the few manufacturers with its own ISO 17025 laboratory, and our precision levels of 0.25 percent are traceable to standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and accredited by the NVLAP. As they say, “It doesn’t get any better than this”.

Bios International’s ISO 17025 accreditation by NVLAP of NIST, along with our technical papers and interlab comparisons, is available on our website at www.biosint.com.