Choosing a testing laboratory that's right for you!

Flowmeters are essential to the monitoring of manufacturing flows across many industries, from food processors to pharmaceutical companies and water authorities. Correct calibration and attuning of flowmeters ensures accurate, safe and efficient product movement and can be an important part of saving money.

"When looking for a calibration laboratory, customers should check that the laboratory holds NATA accreditation," says Ian Bentley, physical and dimensional metrology manager at the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA), Australia. "This provides assurance of the technical competence of the laboratory."

Through the NATA certification process, independent technical experts regularly evaluate that the facility complies with requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 and that it can achieve the accuracy it claims, or the accuracy specified in an Australian or international standard, Bentley explains.

The NATA assessment process involves technical evaluation of staff competence, accommodation, environment, calibration methods, equipment, traceability, measurement uncertainty, handling of test items, quality assurance measures and reporting.

"To underpin technical expertise, the laboratory is also assessed to ensure that it has a management system based on ISO 9001 principles that ensures consistency of work and a focus on meeting the customer's requirements," says Bentley.

"This is important because these are the areas where errors can occur and where inaccuracies can accumulate. NATA has been accrediting laboratories since 1947. Our requirements are based on accumulated knowledge of what can go wrong in a laboratory." NATA accreditation is also important because an incorrectly calibrated instrument can have a significant flow-on effect to a company's products and services, possibly involving product recall or even litigation, Bentley says. He adds that not all laboratories are NATA accredited. "The proper calibration of instrumentation relies heavily on the skill, expertise and technical knowledge of the individuals performing the calibration.

The Moorebank laboratory has the flexibility to test many technologies used in different industries. The large ABB flow test rig can calibrate up to 750 mm diameter flowmeters at rates up to 750 litres per second.

Unfortunately, calibration training is not readily available in Australia and there is no formal qualification system. Consequently there are a number of people offering calibration services that don't understand measurement techniques and the errors that they may inadvertently introduce".

ABB's Australian Flowmeter Calibration Laboratory at Moorebank in Sydney is not only NATA accredited, it meets all the criteria outlined by Bentley as essential when selecting testing facilities. ABB Australia's flow metering operations have been NATA-accredited since its establishment in 1977.

"NATA ensures you meet Australian testing requirements: you've got to have a national standard by which you set your own standard," says Daryl Pullar, business manager flow products with ABB Australia.

"There aren't any other NATA-accredited facilities as large as the ABB rig in Australia," Pullar says. Most NATA-accredited companies calibrate small flowmeters and only a few provide a public testing service for such a wide variety of flow technologies.

Accuracy is vital when monitoring the movement of product and generating revenue, says Ivar Smits, NSW instrumentation manager, ABB Australia.

"If you are pumping water out of a river, putting it into a water treatment plant and selling that to customers, such as domestic water users, you need to know how much disinfectant is being put into the water", says Smits.

ABB has three flowmeter test rigs at its calibration laboratory at Moorebank in NSW. The ABB laboratory is one of few facilities in Australia that can provide a diverse range of calibration services to the public.

"Or if you're putting an additive into a food product and are under-adding, it won't taste right. If you are over-adding, it costs you money", says Smits. The ABB Group is a world leader in this field. It has calibration laboratories in the United Kingdom and United States, with its Australian Flowmeter Calibration Laboratory acting as a major part of the company's global calibration presence. The Moorebank facility is the largest flowmeter laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere in terms of output - it can test up to 750 litres a second, which is the equivalent of three-quarters of a tonne of liquid per second.

The laboratory is also one of the few facilities in Australia that can provide a diverse range of calibration services to the public. This is due to its three rigs - small, medium and large - which can calibrate different flow rates for different sized meters.

The laboratory can test flowmeters ranging from one millimetre in diameter (such as those used for highly accurate chemical dosing in the pharmaceutical industry) up to 750mm in diameter.

"Most other facilities that are open to the public do not offer such diversity. So, the capacity and the range that ABB offers make this facility unique", Smits says.
This is particularly useful for the laboratory's largest clients - water authorities, which require testing of flowmeters up to 750mm in diameter, says Pullar.

This means the Moorebank laboratory can test many technologies used in different industries. These include electromagnetic flowmeters (larger flowmeter technology used in the water and process industries) and mechanical, turbine, differential, ultrasonic and vortex flowmeters (used in the process, food and mining industries).

"We have the flexibility to test all these technologies and that differentiates ABB from the other flow laboratories", says Pullar.