Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
AMETEK Land is celebrating a major milestone in its company history – the 50th anniversary of its UKAS-accredited infrared temperature calibration laboratory in the United Kingdom.
In 1970, the laboratory in Sheffield was the first in the UK to be accredited by the then British Calibration Service (BCS), now the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), for the issue of calibration certificates for non-contact thermometry.
To date, the laboratory has issued over 22,000 certificates to customers around the world, including industry and research establishments, Formula 1 race teams, other calibration facilities, and national laboratories. The laboratory calibrates in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories) and offers a comprehensive service for the certification of infrared thermometers, thermal imagers, scanners, and blackbody sources across the range of -10 °C to 2,500 °C (14 °F to 4,532 °F).
“We’re very proud to be celebrating the 50th anniversary of our UK laboratory,” explains Justin Smith, Division Vice President Business Unit Manager at AMETEK Land. “Our customers across many industries recognise the value of partnering with our UKAS-accredited laboratory, which operates to the highest international standards.”
Smith added, “By having their equipment calibrated in our laboratory, customers can be assured that their temperature measurement systems will achieve optimal operating performance, improving the accuracy of their measurement capability and meeting required national and international standards. It also means their production control systems are fully traceable, reducing risks to the business, and ensuring peace of mind. All processes, which rely on accurate temperature measurement, must have their instruments calibrated periodically to maintain the highest quality standards.”
The UKAS laboratory has recently been accredited against the IOS/IEC 17025:2017 (general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories) standard, in addition to AMETEK Land’s laboratories in the United States and India.
Back in 1967, the British Calibration Service approached AMETEK Land for advice to establish a standard for non-contact temperature measurement and AMETEK Land’s technical director at the time sat on the technical panel. AMETEK Land continues to be acknowledged as a leader in this field. And with only five laboratory heads in the last 50 years, the company offers an unrivalled depth of knowledge and consistency in infrared temperature calibration.
Over the past five decades, AMETEK Land has gained vast experience in tackling the non-contact temperature measurement challenges of the industry and continues to evolve its service offerings to ensure the delivery of highly accurate solutions that precisely meet customer needs. Additional support services are offered to ensure users are maintaining the accuracy of their temperature measurements, including determining what is the best method of obtaining traceability for temperature measuring instrumentation; having an independent engineer carry out regular on-site services/checks or returning instruments for certification; ascertaining the emissivity of a material; providing a re-certification reminder service, and offering AMECare Service Contracts to ensure instruments are professionally maintained and calibrated to operate at peak factory performance levels throughout their lifetime.
