Title : Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of measurement.

Scope : To determination of Humidity uniformity ,gradient., stability

Range : 15 % RH to 95 %RH

References : NABL – 141 , IEC 60068-3-5 , The soc. Of Environmental Engineers Publish
paper. DKD-R-5-7 .Euramet –cg-20 vol 1
Equipment used for calibration :

1. Data logger with multichannel RH Sensor

2. PRT ( NI/PRT/02)
3. 61/2 DMM ( NI/DMM/03)
4. Humidity chamber
5. Any other equipment as decided by Technical Manager

Set up preparation:

1. The UUC under test should be cold & empty but with usual accessories
2. Selection of no. of sensor if the chamber size is < 2000 Liter use nine senor .
Above 2000 liter position one sensor @ 1 meter. OR If chamber size is < 3 ft 3 use 5
no. sensor.
3. The flexible Sensor positioned at the corners of working space of UUC
4. One sensor for determine reference temperature in the geometric center
5. The working space of UUC need to be well specified , usually the space at least 5cm from
any wall
6. Mounting of the survey sensors can be facilitated by using rigid wire frame to hold the
sensors close to their sites.
7. Wires can shift with heating if they are not secured.
8. One more sensor to monitor the ambient temperature.
9. Hot junctions shall then be cleaned & thinly.
10. The UUC door joint & all other possible sources of leakage shall be effectively shield
11. The leads may be brought out a split rubber stopper inserted
12. Refer fig. No.1

Environmental Conditions:

Parameter Requirement

Temperature 25 0 C +/- 4 0 C
RH 50 ± 20%
Earth to Neutral <1V
voltage

Document No:- NI Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of Sect. No:- Thermal
/LAB/CPM measurement.
Issue No:- Issue Date:- 01- Revision No :- Revision Date:- Prepared By & Approved By:-
04 02-2022 V.B. Hingmire ( TD )

1
 Note :
1. On site calibration temperature may be allowed up to 35 0 C. If temperature correction
required this contribution shall be taken in to uncertainty budget.
2. If above environmental condition not observed then stop the calibration
3. Environmental condition should be record in the calibration data sheet

Responsibility for calibration: Technical Manager

Method of calibration :

1. Refer operation manual o both UUC and Master where UUC = unit under calibration.
2. Before starting survey , ensure that the Humidity chamber controller is working properly
3. Check supply cord & other cable ensure this cables should not cut any where.
4. The controller should be set to Humidity and not subsequently adjusted to obtain the right
Humidity.
5. Tuning of the controller may be needed.
6. Ensure that both controller & data logger functioning correctly are they calibrated.
7. Measurements shall not commence until at least one hour after the chamber has been
switched on
8. Select the temperature point as per customer’s requirement & if customer has not
suggested calibration point, then calibrate the instrument at approximately 15%, 50% and
90% of F.S. of UUC

Step-by-step calibration Procedure:

1 Check the connections of chamber & Data logger

2 Start the chamber & Data logger.
3 Set the required Humidity.
4 Start the survey of chamber after achieving stability
5 Record the temperature 1 min. interval at least 30 min. After achieving stability
6 Note down readings of UUC & Master in the calibration data sheet ( CDS / T/ 01 )for
safety to loosing the data any unfortunate reason.
7 Record observations in the data sheet ( CDS / T / 01 )

Document No:- NI Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of Sect. No:- Thermal
/LAB/CPM measurement.
Issue No:- Issue Date:- 01- Revision No :- Revision Date:- Prepared By & Approved By:-
04 02-2022 V.B. Hingmire ( TD )

2
 7 8
1 1

6 9
1

5
3
2

4
1

Fig. 1 Set up diagram of equipment to assessment the Humidity uniformity – The numbered
circles indicate to the sensors location –within the chamber

Humidity Gradient :
Expressed as the difference between highest & lowest average Humidity value of the sensors
on different location within the working space after achieving stability

Error calculation:

Error = (Average readings of UUC - Average readings of Std)

Uniformity :

Maximum deviation from average between the center & other points

Uncertainty of measurement

The following contributions are applicable for uncertainty of measurement:

1. Uncertainty of Master data logger 2. Uncertainty due to temp effect

3. Drift to the standard sensors 4. Resolution of Unit under calibration
5. Type A contribution: repeatability 6. Humidity gradient
7. Humidity fluctuation 8. Over all mean
9. Linearity 10. Other components where applicable

Document No:- NI Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of Sect. No:- Thermal
/LAB/CPM measurement.
Issue No:- Issue Date:- 01- Revision No :- Revision Date:- Prepared By & Approved By:-
04 02-2022 V.B. Hingmire ( TD )

3
 Type A contribution:

Repeatability:

1. Take UUC measurements (qj where j = 1,2 and ….))

2. Calculate mean (qm)= (q1+q2+q3+…)/n
3. Calculate Uncertainty due to repeatability (Ua)= sqrt(Σ qj-qm)2/n(n-1)
4. Degree of freedom = n-1

Type B Contribution:

1. Contribution due to Uncertainty of Data Logger with sensor (U 1) = Uncertainty of Data

logger / k Where k is coverage factor from the calibration certificate of Master
Thermocouple, degrees of freedom = ∞

2. Uncertainty due to temp. effect arrives from temp. coefficient of temp. measuring
Instrument electronics & the temp. variation it experiences during use from manufacture
specification. It is multiplied by 4.5 to convert it to humidity (U 2)= Temp. coefficient / √3
(Considering rectangular distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

3. Contribution due to Drift to the standard equipment can be estimated by considering the
current & pervious calibration certificate. (U 3) = Drift of std. instrument / √3
(Considering rectangular distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

4. Linearity is estimated by looking at the master calibration data ( calibration correction )

usual method is to take three points & joint end to straight line the deviation of the center
point from the line is taken as the nonlinearity (U 4) = Linearity of std. instrument / √3
(Considering rectangular distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

5. The Humidity gradient can be derived from the measurement at each measurement the
average & std. deviation (SD) of nine sensor has been calculated the std deviation is a
measure of Humidity gradient .The safest assumption is to take largest value of std
deviation. The input budget is a std. Deviation from repeated measurement & so can be
assume to be normal & the divisor is 1. (U 5) = largest value of std deviation / 1
(Considering normal distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

6. Fluctuations are also derived from the data for each sensor the average & std. deviation
over the period of the test has been calculated. The std. deviation is a measure of the
fluctuation. The safest assumption is to take the largest value of std. deviation again it is
std. deviation so it can be assume to be normal & divisor is 1 (U 6) = largest value of std
deviation / 1 (Considering normal distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

Document No:- NI Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of Sect. No:- Thermal
/LAB/CPM measurement.
Issue No:- Issue Date:- 01- Revision No :- Revision Date:- Prepared By & Approved By:-
04 02-2022 V.B. Hingmire ( TD )

4
 7. Over all mean of all measurement is statically based & allowance must be made for
possibility that it may not present the true average the value input in to the uncertainty
budget is the over all std. deviation divided by the square root of the no. of measurements
This component referred to as std. deviation of the mean may appear negligible but it
induced for completeness. If only a few measurements were make it could become
significant . (U7) = over all std. deviation / √ no. of measurements. (Considering normal
distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

8. Contribution due to resolution of UUC source (U8)= Resolution of UUC /2√3

(Considering rectangular distribution, degrees of freedom = ∞)

9. Where applicable other contributions should be taken

Combined uncertainty (Uc) = Sqrt (Ua2+ U12+U22+U32+U42 +U52+U62+U72+U82)

Effective degree of freedom (νeff )= Uc4/( ΣUi4/νi), where i = 1 to n, νi is degrees of freedom

Expanded uncertainty = Uc x k where k is coverage factor as per NABL-141

Reporting the Results :

Average case analysis:
Average of reading ± Expanded Uncertainty at 95.45 confidence level at k = ---
Worst Case analysis
Set point ± Expanded Uncertainty at 95.45 confidence level at k = ---

To say an UUC had a uniformity of + …. At …. 0 C

To say an UUC had a Gradiant of + …. At …. 0 C

Records:

1. The calibration report should be issued. . A copy of the same shall be retained in the file with
subject “Record of the calibration certificates issued”
2. The original observations should be retained in the file with subject “Observation sheets”
3. All calibration request formats duly filled by customers and Cal lab should be retained in the
file with subject “Calibration request forms”

Document No:- NI Procedure for calibration of Humidity Chamber and uncertainty of Sect. No:- Thermal
/LAB/CPM measurement.
Issue No:- Issue Date:- 01- Revision No :- Revision Date:- Prepared By & Approved By:-
04 02-2022 V.B. Hingmire ( TD )

5
Prepared By Approved By
Technical Officer Head of WC
 NISHITRONICS INSTRUMENTATION PUNE
CALIBRATION PROCEDURE MANUAL Procedure No. NI/CP/08
Issue: 03 Date: 03.04.2012 REVISION: 00 Date: 30.04.2012 Page: 1 of 4

Prepared By Approved By
Technical Manager Technical / Quality Manager