FROM THE FIXED POINTS CALIBRATION TO THE CERTIFICATE: A COMPLETELY AUTOMATED TEMPERATURE LABORATORY

At the Intermediate Temperature Laboratory of the Istituto di Metrologia “G. Colonnetti” (IMGC) all operations concerning the calibration of standard platinum resistance thermometers (SPRTs) at the ITS-90 fixed points are now completely automated. The software is based upon Visual Basic© modules, forms, macros, I/O connection and dialogs with the main Microsoft® Office© application. These modules and other “.exe” files are also used for research purposes as they can be separately used as virtual consoles for data acquisition, pre-processing and post-processing. Several blocks call on each other, starting from the data acquisition to the certificate printout: those blocks can be used as useful tools for accredited calibration laboratories. Statistics, data input evaluation, cross controls, ITS-90 requirements and equations, fixed points and thermometer databases are in continuous dialog, till the end of the calibration procedure. All the data, both from the calibration and the research activities is weekly saved automatically.