Process calibrators
Working in process environments such as chemical processing, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, or food and beverage manufacturing can be challenging work. Maintaining, building, and calibrating process equipment takes specific expertise and often requires specialized process calibrators to get the job done right. With the broadest line of process calibration equipment in the industry, Fluke can help provide you with the right calibration tools for the challenges you face every day.
Fluke process calibration tools include a full range of calibrators and troubleshooting tools including Pressure Calibrators, Multifunction Process Calibrators, single-function and multifunction Temperature Calibrators, as well as a variety of mA Loop Calibrators and meters. Fluke also offers a full line of Intrinsically safe process calibrators for testing instruments installed in process areas where explosive gases may be present. If you are looking for higher-accuracy bench calibrators or calibration standards, see our Fluke Calibration website.
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Using Fluke process calibrators for commissioning, troubleshooting, and calibrating
Process devices provide critical measurement information to a process plant’s control system. The performance of these process instruments is often critical to optimizing plant operations and maintaining safety. Whether instrumentation or electrical technicians are looking to commission a new process instrument, troubleshoot an existing process control panel, 4-20 mA loop or pressure valve, or calibrate a pressure transmitter, temperature transmitter, or HART transmitter — Fluke has process calibration equipment designed specifically for the job.
Commissioning process instruments
Process plants commission new process instruments for a lot of reasons. They could be installing a new instrument to meet expanding production requirements, upgrading a system to meet new industry standards or replacing a defective instrument with a new instrument right out of the box. Regardless of why they’re being commissioned, these new instruments need to be properly configured for the application at hand. That means verifying that the instrument settings match the requirements of the application where it’s going to be installed before even taking a system online. In addition to that, technicians need to make sure the instrument is properly calibrated through the use of a calibration meter or process calibrator so they can be confident that the data they are transmitting and collecting is accurate.
Troubleshooting process instruments
Troubleshooting is required when a part of the process fails or when you have doubts about the accuracy of the data you are collecting. When that happens you typically need to resolve the issue fast or face the consequences of it growing into larger issues and leading to potential production or plant downtime. In order to troubleshoot properly, you’ll need to grab your process calibration equipment and start by trying to isolate the problem. Once you’ve done that, you can start substituting variables in the 4-20 mA loop to try and further narrow down the source of the issue. From there you’ll need to decide whether the instrument can be repaired, whether it needs to simply be calibrated using a process calibrator or if you need to replace it entirely and commission a new instrument.
Calibrating process instruments
Calibrating a process instrument starts with verifying the specifications of a process instrument using a known good reference source such as a process calibrator or calibration meter. These reference sources have been specifically designed for use in process environments and are at least four times as accurate as the device under test. Process calibration typically occurs for several different reasons throughout the year whether it be during the troubleshooting process, when an instrument has been identified as the source of an issue, as part of a periodic system checks or during annual preventative maintenance programs. Since process instruments are often installed in harsh operating environments, their performance can shift or change over time so periodic calibration to keep these devices operating within expected limits is highly recommended.