Scribd
Upload
46 views3 pages

Standards and Their Classifications

Standards are physical representations of measurement units that are used to define other units. There are several classifications of standards including: 1) International standards which define units to the closest possible accuracy based on international agreement. 2) Primary standards which are maintained by national laboratories and used to verify secondary standards. 3) Secondary standards which are used in industrial labs and periodically calibrated against primary standards. 4) Working standards are used in measurement labs to check instruments for accuracy.

Uploaded by

Joecelle Ablegina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
46 views3 pages

Standards and Their Classifications

Standards are physical representations of measurement units that are used to define other units. There are several classifications of standards including: 1) International standards which define units to the closest possible accuracy based on international agreement. 2) Primary standards which are maintained by national laboratories and used to verify secondary standards. 3) Secondary standards which are used in industrial labs and periodically calibrated against primary standards. 4) Working standards are used in measurement labs to check instruments for accuracy.

Uploaded by

Joecelle Ablegina
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

STANDARDS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATIONS

A standard of measurement is a physical representation of a unit of measurement. A unit is


realised by reference to an arbitrary material standard or to natural phenomena including
physical and atomic constants. The term ‘standard’ is applied to a piece of equipment having a
known measure of physical quantity. For example, the fundamental unit of mass in the SI system
is the kilogram, defined as the mass of the cubic decimeter of water at its temperature of
maximum of 4°C. This unit of mass is represented by a material standard; the mass of the
international prototype kilogram consisting of a platinum–iridium hollow cylinder. This unit is
preserved at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Sevres, near Paris, and is the
material representation of the kilogram. Similar standards have been developed for other units of
measurement, including fundamental units as well as for some of the derived mechanical and
electrical units.

The classifications of standards are


1. International standards
2. Primary standards
3. Secondary standards
4. Working standards
5. Current standards
6. Voltage standards
7. Resistance standards
8. Capacitance standards
9. Time and frequency standards
10. IEEE Standards

1.3.1 International Standards


The international standards are defined by international agreement. They represent certain units
of measurement to the closest possible accuracy that production and measurement technology
allow. International standards are periodically checked and evaluated by absolute measurements
in terms of the fundamental units. These standards are maintained at the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures and are not available to the ordinary user of measuring instruments for
purposes of comparison or calibration. Table 1.1 shows basic SI Units, Quantities and Symbols.
Table 1.1 Basic Quantities, SI Units and Symbols
1.3.2 Primary Standards

The primary standards are maintained by national standards laboratories in different places of the
world. The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Washington is responsible for maintenance of
the primary standards in North America. Other national laboratories include the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL) in Great Britain and the oldest in the world, the Physikalisch Technische
Reichsanstalt in Germany. The primary standards, again representing the fundamental units and
some of the derived mechanical and electrical units, are independently calibrated by absolute
measurements at each of the national laboratories. The results of these measurements are
compared with each other, leading to a world average figure for the primary standard. Primary
standards are not available for use outside the national laboratories. One of the main functions of
primary standards is the verification and calibration of secondary standards.

1.3.3 Secondary Standards

Secondary standards are the basic reference standards used in the industrial measurement
laboratories. These standards are maintained by the particular involved industry and are checked
locally against other reference standards in the area. The responsibility for maintenance and
calibration rests entirely with the industrial laboratory itself. Secondary standards are generally
sent to the national standards laboratory on a periodic basis for calibration and comparison
against the primary standards. They are then returned to the industrial user with a certification of
their measured value in terms of the primary standard.

1.3.4 Working Standards

Working standards are the principle tools of a measurement laboratory. They are used to check
and calibrate general laboratory instruments for accuracy and performance or to perform
comparison measurements in industrial applications. A manufacturer of precision
resistances, for example, may use a standard resistor in the quality control department of his
plant to check his testing equipment. In this case, the manufacturer verifies that his measurement
setup performs within the required limits of accuracy.

1.3.5 Current Standard


The fundamental unit of electric current (Ampere) is defined by the International System of
Units (SI) as the constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of
infinite length and negligible circular cross section placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, will produce
between these conductors a force equal to 2 × 10-7 newton per meter length.

1.3.6 Voltage Standard

In early times, the standard volt was based on an electrochemical cell called the saturated
standard cell or simply standard cell. The saturated cell has temperature dependence, and the
output voltage changes about -40 µV/°C from the nominal of 1.01858 volt. The standard cell
suffers from this temperature dependence and also from the fact that the voltage is a function of a
chemical reaction and not related directly to any other physical constants. In 1962, based on the
work of Brian Josephson, a new standard for the volt was introduced.

1.3.7 Resistance Standard

In the SI system, the absolute value of ohm is defined in terms of the fundamental units of length,
mass and time. The absolute measurement of the ohm is carried out by the International Bureau
of Weights and Measures in Sevres and also by the national standard laboratories, which
preserve a group of primary resistance standards.

1.3.8 Capacitance Standard


Many electrical and magnetic units may be expressed in terms of these voltage and resistance
standards since the unit of resistance is represented by the standard resistor and the unit of
voltage by standard Weston cell. The unit of capacitance (the farad) can be measured with a
Maxwell dc commutated bridge, where the capacitance is computed from the resistive bridge
arms and the frequency of the dc commutation.

1.3.9 IEEE Standards

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA) is an


organization within IEEE that develops global standards in a broad range of industries,
including: power and energy, consumer technology and consumer
electronics, biomedical and health care, learning technology, information
technology and robotics, telecommunication and home
automation, transportation, nanotechnology, information assurance, and many more.

You might also like