Calibration Bath
Calibration Procedure
51
Table 6. Remote Operation Ranges and Settings
Range
Heater
Refrigeration
High Cooling
Valve
Back Pressure
Valve
–40 to 0°C
Low
On
Off
On
–10 to 20°C
Low
On
On
On
10 to 40°C
Low
On
On
Off
40 to 110°C
High
Off
Off
Off
Calibration Procedure
In some instances the user may want to calibrate the bath to improve the
temperature set-point accuracy. Calibration is done by adjusting the controller
probe calibration constants
R
0
and
ALPHA
so that the temperature of the bath as
measured with a standard thermometer agrees more closely with the bath set-
point. The thermometer used must be able to measure the bath fluid temperature
with higher accuracy than the desired accuracy of the bath. By using a good
thermometer and carefully following procedure the bath can be calibrated to an
accuracy of better than 0.02
°
C over a range of 100 degrees.
Calibration Points
In calibrating the bath
R
0
and
ALPHA
are adjusted to minimize the set-point error
at each of two different bath temperatures. Any two reasonably separated bath
temperatures may be used for the calibration. However, best results are obtained
when using bath temperatures which are just within the most useful operating
range of the bath. The further apart the calibration temperatures the larger will be
the calibrated temperature range but the calibration error will also be greater over
the range. If for instance 0
°
C and 100
°
C are chosen as the calibration
temperatures then the bath may achieve an accuracy of maybe
±
0.03
°
C over
the range –10 to 110
°
C. Choosing 30
°
C and 70
°
C may allow the bath to have a
better accuracy of maybe
±
0.01
°
C over the range 25 to 75
°
C but outside that
range the accuracy may be only
±
0.05
°
C.
Measuring the Set-point Error
The first step in the calibration procedure is to measure the temperature errors
(including sign) at the two calibration temperatures. First set the bath to the lower
set-point which we will call
t
L
. Wait for the bath to reach the set-point and allow
15 minutes to stabilize at that temperature. Check the bath stability with the
thermometer. When both the bath and the thermometer have stabilized measure
the bath temperature with the thermometer and compute the temperature error
err
L
which is the actual bath temperature minus the set-point temperature. If for
example the bath is set for a lower set-point of
t
L
=0
°
C and the bath reaches a
measured temperature of –0.3
°
C then the error is –0.3
°
C.
Next, set the bath for the upper set-point
t
H
and after stabilizing measure the bath
temperature and compute the error
err
H
. For this example we will suppose the
bath was set for 100
°
C and the thermometer measured 100.1
°
C giving an error
of +0.1
°
C.