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Transmille Training - Uncertainties
Transmille Training - Uncertainties
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
All measurements, even the most accurate,
have an unknown inaccuracy or doubt.
The is known as the UNCERTAINTY
As there is always an uncertainty with any
measurement we need to estimate this
amount. We also need to calculate our
confidence in the estimate of uncertainty, which is
how sure we are that the true value is within the
uncertainty we have estimated.
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
As an example we may measure 1 Volt and
be 95% confident that we are within 10uV
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
UNCERTAINTY vs. ACCURACY
There is no connection between these terms.
Uncertainty is purely the unknown in any
measurement.
Accuracy or Tolerance is the difference
between the desired value and the actual
measured value.
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
Example
With a digital watch with 1 second resolution
this resolution will limit the best uncertainty
to which you can tell the time (ie. 1 second),
however the watch itself may only be
accurate to a few minutes.
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
There are many sources of uncertainty in any
measurement which need to be combined
using statistical techniques to give a total.
Different types of uncertainty need to be
treated differently to obtain an accurate
estimation.
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
To calculate uncertainty you must first
identify all the sources of error, estimate the
size of the contribution from each source and
also decide on the type of uncertainty for
each source.
There are two types of uncertainty
Type A Based on using statistics
e.g. repeated readings
Type
Sources of Uncertainty in
Electrical Measurements.
Imported
Uncertainty
Drift of reference instrument
Temperature effects
Lead and thermal errors (DC volts)
Rounding errors due to resolution
Repeatability
Noise
Self heating of high current shunts
Imported Uncertainty
Imported
Temperature Effects
The
Resolution of Measurement
Combining Uncertainties
Use the sum of square to total column 6 to get the Combined Standard
Uncertainty
Expressing Uncertainty of
Measurement
Example
Calibrating An Instrument
(www.UKAS.co.uk)
National Physical Laboratory
Transmille Ltd (www.transmille.com)