Product category:
Materials Testing
News Release from: Michell Instruments | Subject: Optidew
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 02 April 2003
Precise Verification of Environmental
Chambers
Environmental Chambers are widely used for the testing of a huge range of products, such as electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals and food packaging.
Environmental Chambers are widely used for the testing of a huge range of products, such as electronic equipment, pharmaceuticals and food packaging Historically, wet/dry bulb psychrometers and capacitive relative humidity probes have been used both for the control and validation of such chambers
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 8 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Michell dew point meter has 250m cable
Now having an increased cable length of up to 250m, a dew point meter can be installed remotely to the electronics of the hygrometer, said Michell Instruments.
Engine testing, development humidity measurement
The measurement of humidity plays an important role in measuring the efficiency, power output and emissions of internal combustion engines.
However, neither are particularly suitable for the highest level of validation of chamber performance.
Now, for the first time there exists an alternative in the form of a cooled mirror transmitter, offering improved measurement capability and a flexibility to be applied over a wide range of environmental conditions with ease.
In the past, cooled mirror dew-point hygrometers were regarded as an expensive laboratory reference device that would be used for the calibration of lower specification instruments, such as psychrometers and RH sensors.
Further reading
Monitoring and control of dew point and humidity
Michell Instruments' Optidew is a complete solution for the monitoring and control of dew point and/or humidity within a climatic environmental test chamber.
Laboratory humidity or moisture measurement
The Optidew Vision has been designed for the user who needs the high accuracy, repeatability and stability of a cooled mirror instrument coupled with value for money.
Limitations in electronics and in the design of early cooled mirror sensors rendered them inflexible when presented with extremes of temperature and humidity.
The design and development of Optidew has addressed these limitations and results in a cooled mirror dew-point hygrometer that is stable, fast responding and accurate over the whole operating range of an environmental chamber, from the driest conditions (typically -40 oC dew point) to saturation at the highest operating temperatures, automatically and without any need for user intervention.
The pedigree of the cooled mirror dew-point hygrometer as a calibration reference device is well established and Optidew follows in a long tradition.
Four-wire resistance temperature measurement, precision digital control and high quality sensor components with corrosion-resistant hard gold mirror ensure reliable and accurate performance.
Calibration traceability to International Standards (NPL and NIST primarily) along with the option for direct UKAS calibration make it suitable for verification of chamber performance, humidity profiling and for the calibration of chamber humidity control loop sensors.
But can Optidew replace those psychrometers and RH probes as the main measurement and control device for an environmental chamber? The results of independent tests suggest that this is possible.
The combination of Optidew's own intelligent control system and the improved sophistication of microprocessor based environmental chambers means that such an advanced, fundamentally based measurement system can now be applied with success to the control of enclosed environments. Request a free brochure from Michell Instruments ...
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