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CALIBRATION
A TECHNICIAN’S GUIDE

Mike Cable

ISA TECHNICIAN SERIES

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Chapter 1 Calibration Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 What Is Calibration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 What Are the Characteristics of a Calibration? . . 2
1.3 Why Is Calibration Required? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Who Performs Calibrations? – The Control
System Technician. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.5 Characteristics of a Control System Technician . 9
1.6 Loop Calibration vs. Individual Instrument
Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7 Bench Calibration vs. Field Calibration . . . . . . 11
1.8 Classification of Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Chapter Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 2 Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Calibration Procedure Content . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Calibration Data Sheets
(See Examples in Appendix A-4) . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3 P&IDs (See Example in Appendix A-1) . . . . . . 23
2.4 Loop Diagrams (See Examples in
Appendix A-2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

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2.5 Instrument Specification Forms

(See Examples in Appendix A-3) . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.6 Project Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.7 Manufacturer’s Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.8 Calibration Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.9 Safety Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.10 Calibration Status Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 3 Temperature Instrument Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3.1 What is Temperature? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Temperature Sensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 Signal Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 4 Pressure Instrument Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

4.1 What is Pressure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.2 Challenges When Calibrating Pressure . . . . . . 50
4.3 Calibrating Pressure Gauges . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4.4 Calibrating Pressure Transmitters . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.5 Calibrating Pressure Switches . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Chapter 5 Level Instrument Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

5.1 Types of Level Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.2 Special Considerations with Level Calibration . 64
5.3 Calibrating a Differential Pressure Level
Transmitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5.4 Calibrating a Capacitance Level Instrument . . . 71
5.5 Calibrating an Ultrasonic Level Instrument. . . . 72
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Chapter 6 Flow Instrument Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

6.1 Types of Flow Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
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6.2 Calibration of Flowmeters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

6.3 D/P Transmitter Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6.4 Example: Magnetic Flowmeter Calibration . . . . 84
6.5 Flowmeter Calibration Using a Master
Meter (Prover) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
6.6 Gravimetric Method for Flowmeter
Calibration (Measurement by Weight) . . . . . . . 87
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Chapter 7 Final Control Devices Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

7.1 Calibration of an I/P Transducer . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.2 Calibration of a Valve Positioner . . . . . . . . . . 96
7.3 Calibration of a Control Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Chapter 8 Process Analytical Instrument Calibration . . . . . . . 101

8.1 pH Calibration Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.2 Diagnostic Test for pH Electrodes . . . . . . . . 106
8.3 Measuring Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
8.4 Calibration Procedure with Explanations . . . . 109
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Appendix A-1. Piping & Instrument Diagrams (P&IDs) . . . . . . . . 117

Appendix A-2. Loop Diagrams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Appendix A-3. Instrument Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Appendix A-4. Calibration Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Appendix A-5. Test Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Appendix A-6. RTD and Thermocouple Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Appendix A-7. Conversion Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Appendix B. Answers to Chapter Review Questions . . . . . . . . . 249

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271