New ABB calibration laboratory gets UKAS ISO 17025 accreditation

ABB has received accreditation to ISO 17025 from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for its new Measurement & Analytics Service laboratory at its Stonehouse facility. The accreditation recognises ABB’s technical competence in the calibration of temperature, pressure and electrical measurement devices.

 

As a globally recognised standard, ISO 17025 sets a recognised and verifiable level of best practice so that end users can be confident that a provider of calibration and testing services has undertaken the correct steps when calibrating their equipment. To become accredited, a laboratory must demonstrate that it operates a clear set of management procedures and that it is technically competent to carry out calibration services.

 

As a UKAS accredited facility, ABB’s Stonehouse laboratory has satisfied these requirements, enabling it to calibrate its own temperature, pressure and electrical equipment as well as those of third parties. For temperature, the laboratory can be used for the calibration of noble and base metal thermocouples and Pt100 sensors, plus indicators, controllers and recorders. The laboratory can be used to conduct both physical and simulated calibrations, with ranges from -35°C to 1,200°C and -200°C to 1,768°C respectively.

 

For pressure, calibrations can be performed in ranges from -85kPa 2Mpa. For electrical measurement devices, there is a choice of voltage, current and resistance calibrations covering both measurement and generation. The accreditation underlines ABB’s proven experience and expertise in the calibration of flowmeters, with its Stonehouse flow rigs able to calibrate a variety of flowmeters from 5mm through to 2,000mm in diameter.

 

“We already have a good reputation for flow calibration, with our flow calibration facilities having been UKAS accredited for many years,” says Dr Jonathan Farrington, Technical Manager for ABB Measurement & Analytical Service. “Our aim now is to build a similarly excellent reputation for the calibration of temperature, pressure and electrical measurement devices.”

 

The new accreditation will help ABB to further grow its presence in a range of industrial applications, especially those where both accuracy of measurement and traceability of calibration are key. These include cold chain mapping in hospitals and medical facilities, where UKAS is encouraging all Clinical Pathology Association (CPA) accredited laboratories to become UKAS accredited to meet the forthcoming standard ISO 15189:2012, Medical Laboratories. Other target areas include the aerospace and food and beverage industries. In both industries, companies have strict requirements around traceability, which extends not only to product quality but also the quality of the equipment used in their production processes.

 

“Accreditation to ISO 17025 gives companies the assurance of being able to trace the accuracy of their measurement equipment,” says Dr Farrington. “This can be a major advantage in the event that something goes wrong with a product, enabling them to quickly ascertain whether the problem was due to a poorly measured process or faulty instrument.”

 

The instrument calibration service is the latest offering from ABB Measurement & Analytics Service. Operating nationwide, the service team offers access to fully-qualified and skilled field engineers with the skills and experience to provide the highest levels of support across a range of field devices and supporting technologies.

 

For more information, email instrument.support@gb.abb.com or call 03339 997996 ref. ‘Calibration’.