Today we talk to Daniel Perea, our Calibration Department Manager, for him to answer some questions that I think could be very interesting for many of our users or followers.
Hi Dani, could you explain to us what is your day to day? What is your work here in Tecfluid?
DP – Well, we are 4 people in the team and my job is to organize all the tasks to be performed in the Calibration department, the filtering and organization of the orders that are entered into the computer system, the control and request of the necessary material for covering them, and organize the workload of the different calibration flow rigs according to the delivery date of the orders.
My department colleagues are responsible for carrying out the calibration of the different equipment that make up the orders, the engraving of graduated plates and glass tubes…
“The calibration of the instruments is very important to ensure that they are within the specifications
the customer needs and we keep a record of all the calibrations we perform”
What problems do you usually have?
DP – Mainly the management of all the material that is needed to cover the orders and availability of the calibration flow rigs of water or air necessary for each flowmeter that comes from production and that must be checked before being delivered to the customer.
And how do you know when a flowmeter works correctly?
DP – We compare our instruments with the standard we set in the calibration flow rig. The reference instrument depends on the flow requested by the customer.
On the other hand, in the majority of the flowmeters that arrive to us for repairing, we detect mechanical failures that avoid the correct performance of the flowmeter as in the case that the indicator needle does not move even if there is flow, that we notice that the float rubs in some part of the tube… and this kind of details.
Do we calibrate all the instruments leaving the manufacturing plant or only those that are special or customized for a customer’s application?
DP – In Tecfluid we have our own calibration flow rigs and all the instruments we manufacture, special or not, pass through our department and are calibrated in our calibration flow rigs before being sent to the client, except the PS series instruments, plastic tube variable area flowmeters.
As these tubes are uniformly manufactured and by means of a mold, a sampling of a certain number of them allows us to validate the whole line of tubes making unnecessary the calibration of 100% of the pieces.
Calibration of a target disk flowmeter DP65 series
In Tecfluid we have an after sales service and I believe that many of the instruments that come to perform some repair go through your department… How do you manage this issue?
DP – All the equipment that comes to repair is registered and sent to one or another department depending on the problem of operation that the client reports to us. Once the necessary repair is done, almost all of them go through the calibration department again, since the replacement of parts requires a new calibration of the flowmeter.
Detail of a 2000 series flowmeter in the calibration flow rig
Do we also calibrate other flowmeters that are not our brand?
DP – Yes, as long as they can be adapted to our installations connections, they have a reading flow measuring system and an instructions manual for handling and electrical connection, that could be supplied to us if necessary.
Keep in mind that we know in depth the performance of our flowmeters but not necessarily those of other brands. Usually these devices come to be calibrated and here we can only give readings, because we do not have spare parts or the knowledge of the equipment to be able to repair them in case of detecting mechanical or electronic errors in their operation.
I would like to clarify that the traceability of the calibration of TECFLUID S.A. flow rigs is guaranteed by international norms and standards and is performed by weighing in our own facilities.
And are there many differences in calibration between the different flow measurement systems?
DP – Yes, in fact we could group the instruments into three calibration types: for plastics and glass, electronic and metal.
When I speak of plastics I mean our PS series flowmeters of variable area plastic tube where for the calibration we place an adhesive graduated scale. In our 2000 series, 6000 and 60M1, glass tube variable area, the calibration is marked directly on the glass tube and then engraved by laser.
Short video about glass tubes of variable area flowmeters laser engraving
We consider electronic calibration for those instruments whose calibration is carried out directly with computer support and various softwares that have been developed for it, such as electromagnetic flowmeters, FLOMID and FLOMAT series, turbine flowmeters TM series, oscillating piston flowmeters COVOL series or ultrasonic flowmeters of the CU series.
Calibration of a FLOMID series electromagnetic flowmeter
All other flowmeters can be considered metallic ones and in these we obtain the readings through a set of magnets placed in an indicator box recording the data marked by the needle of the box. In the case that they fit switches or transmitters, also an electronic calibration is carried out.
Engraving of dataplates of flowmeters with indicator box
As for the level equipment, are they also calibrated?
DP – Only the level displacer LP series . The rest of the level instruments that we manufacture do not need calibration since their working principles do not require so. The LP series has an indicator box with a magnet system similar to that of metallic flowmeters and that is why it needs to be evaluated.
I know we issue different types of certificates for the instruments we calibrate, What are those types?
DP – We have a great diversity of certificates if customers requires it; Certificate of Conformity with the Calibration, Calibration Certificate with accuracy test report for flow and mA, and others that are not directly related to the calibration such as the Certificate of materials, Certificate of Silicone-Free material …
What about quality control?
DP – The calibration of the instruments is very important to ensure that they are within the specifications the customer needs and we keep a record of all the calibrations we perform.
In the event that an error is detected, a process is started from our Quality department department to investigate what is happening and why the operation is not adequate. In this research process other departments of the company such as mechanics or electronics, glass workshop or R&D, if necessary, are involved.
