European Metrology Programme For Innovation And Research Research Articles

Metrology supporting the European regulation for radiation protection.

The European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) within its research programme European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) funded project EMPIR 19NET03 supportBSS that contributes to the establishment of a European Metrology Network (EMN) for Radiation Protection (RP). The EMN-RP was established in September 2021 with the intent to work as a meeting point for the metrology community and all stakeholders in the field of ionising radiation regulation, thus providing quality assurance for measurements in each of the exposure situations contemplated in the European Legislation. Within project EMPIR 19NET03, work package 3 aims at the preparation of a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) by identifying the metrology needs to support the European legislation and regulation in Radiation Protection and of two Roadmaps for metrology services, one under the European Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM and the other under the EURATOM Treaty. Following a Gaps Workshop held in September 2020 and a second internal workshop that took place in April 2022, a questionnaire was prepared for distribution to the stakeholders, e.g. RP platforms and authorities, academia, industry, among other, together with an accompanying paper. In this paper, the authors present the state of the art of European legislation in RP, address the importance of metrology, the practices and activities that need metrology to meet the requirements set in the regulations, emphasise the need for quality assured measurements in all fields, highlight the stakeholders contributions in their specific area and show their vision of the EMN-RP.

Involvement and use of European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research EMPIR in the Czech Metrology Institute – a positive example of the use of European cooperation

The Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) has been the national metrology institute of the Czech Republic since 1993. The significant development of the CMI's fundamental metrology departments and the gradual growth of the CMI's scientific and research capacities are linked to its successful participation in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) and the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). In total, 28 countries have participated in the EMPIR Programme, with Switzerland, Norway, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey and the UK in addition to the EU Member States. The necessary organisational and administrative background for the realisation of the EMPIR Programme was provided by EURAMET e.V., a European Regional Metrology Organisation operated as a non-profit association under German law. The most important benefit of the Programme for the CMI and the Czech Republic is the successful implementation of the research results of individual EMPIR projects. Within the framework of this implementation of the EMPIR results in the CMI, 6 new state measurement standards of the Czech Republic have already been established and another 4 are in the stage of preparation for announcement. Furthermore, 23 new or significantly modified measurement methods have been developed based on the results within the CMI and are now provided as a service by the CMI. Finally, participation in the EMPIR projects has been used to train 42 new CMI scientists in various fields of measurement. If to add to this the use of the results of the former EMRP Programme, it can be concluded that the development of metrology at the CMI over the last 10 years has been strongly conditioned by successful participation in European Metrology Programmes and the ability of the CMI to subsequently apply the results of individual projects to its laboratory practice.

Development and evaluation of primary calibration methods in underwater acoustics in a frequency range from 1 Hz to 100 Hz

The project entitled “Metrology for Low Frequency Sound and Vibration” (“INFRA-AUV”), currently active within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). Measurement of seismic and infrasound activity is very important for monitoring natural extreme events. Low frequency sound and vibration monitoring technologies are well-established, but the sensors are often used for specific and local applications only and lack traceability. This project aims to establish both the first primary measurement standards for low frequency sound (in both air and water) and vibration. The aim of the task “Development and Evaluation of Primary Calibration Methods in Underwater Acoustics in a Frequency Range from 0.5 Hz to 100 Hz” is to develop and evaluate candidate calibration techniques in underwater acoustics for use as primary standards in frequency range of interest. These methods will be evaluated in terms of their limitations, uncertainty contributions and calibration results. The pressure coupler reciprocity method is based on the hydrophone, a transducer and projector which are calibrated inside a relatively small coupling chamber where the acoustic field is homogenous. Through a series of electrical measurements of voltage and current, the acoustic sensitivity of the three devices may be calculated traceable to electrical primary units.

Validation of a fast and traceable radiographic scale calibration of dimensional computed tomography

A fast and highly precise method of determining the geometrical scale factor of computed tomography (CT) measurements has been validated successfully by Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) within the scope of AdvanCT (Advanced Computed Tomography for dimensional and surface measurements in industry), a project funded in the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). The method has been developed by PTB and requires only two radiographic images of a calibrated thin 2D standard (hole grid standard) from two opposite directions. The mean grid distance is determined from both radiographs. From this and with the help of the calibration result, the radiographic scale and therefore the voxel size is determined. The procedure takes only a few minutes and avoids a time-consuming CT scan. To validate the method, the voxel sizes determined via this method were compared with voxel sizes determined from CT scans of calibrated objects. Relative deviations between the voxel sizes in the range of 10−5 were achieved with minimal effort using cone-beam CT systems at moderate magnifications.

ALTECH 2021 – Analytical Techniques for Precise Characterization of Nano Materials

ALTECH 2021 – Analytical Techniques for Precise Characterization of Nano Materials

Results of the EURAMET.RI(II)-K2.Ho-166 key comparison for the activity of the radionuclide 166Ho per unit mass of aqueous solution

Main textThis is the final report for the EURAMET.RI(II)-K2.Ho-166 key comparison of the activity of the radionuclide 166Ho per unit mass of aqueous solution which was organized in 2017 by Czech Metrology Institute (CMI) within the joint research project "Metrology for clinical implementation of dosimetry in molecular radiotherapy" (MRTDosimetry; 15HLT06) of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). The key comparison reference value of (2623.6 ± 3.6) kBq·g-1 was determined from the results of three participants at the reference time of 1 December 2017 00:00 UTC. The details of the comparison are presented and analysed in this paper.To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCRI, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

Supplementary comparison study - measurement capabilities for the quantification of ethanol in water

Main textThe accurate quantification of ethanol in water is essential for forensic applications such as blood and breath alcohol testing and for commercial applications such as the assessment of alcoholic beverages.The intercomparison EURAMET.QM-S14 is part of a capacity building project named ALCOREF "Certified forensic alcohol reference materials" [1] that is running within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) [2]. The intercomparison should allow project partners and other interested National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and Designated Institutes (DIs) to benchmark their analytical methods for the quantification of ethanol in water. The study plan was agreed by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) Subcommittee Bio- and Organic Analysis (SCBOA) and the Organic Analysis Working Group (OAWG) of the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) in February and April 2019, respectively. The intercomparison was coordinated by BAM. Two concentration levels relevant for the calibration and verification of evidential breath alcohol analysers were distributed to study participants. Fifteen institutes from 15 countries registered for the intercomparison and returned results. Participants mostly applied gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) or mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), one participant used titrimetry and one participant employed a test bench for breath analyser calibration ("bubble train"). Participants did either in-house purity assessment of their commercial ethanol calibrants by Karl-Fischer titration, chromatographic methods, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) and/or density measurements; or they used ethanol/water Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) from NMIs/DIs for calibration.CCQM OAWG agreed to use a consensus value from participants' results that utilizes the reported uncertainties as Key Comparison Reference Value (KCRV). The Gaussian Random effects model with Hierarchical Bayesian solution (HB-REM) is a reasonable approach in this case. The KCRVs and Degrees of Equivalence (DoEs) were calculated with the NIST consensus builder version 1.2 Hierarchical Bayes procedure [3].Successful participation in the interlaboratory comparison has demonstrated the capabilities in determining the mass fraction of ethanol in aqueous matrices in the range 0.1 mg/g to 8 mg/g. Fourteen out of 15 participants have successfully quantified both samples, one participant successfully quantified only the lower-level (0.6 mg/g) sample.To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

Development of High Temperature Multi-Layer Laser Flash Artefacts

Delamination of the interlayers of multi-layer systems can cause a degradation in functionality, stability and life span of that system. This is even more pertinent for systems at high temperature. Laser flash analysis (LFA) has long been used for thermophysical properties measurements at high temperatures. Multi-layer reference artefacts, with and without, debonded regions are required for validating the thermal characterisation of such systems using LFA. Although some high-temperature bulk candidate reference materials were developed and studied, e.g. in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) funded Joint Research Project (JRP) ENG08 Metrofission, they were not able to meet the requirements for validating thermal measurements of multi-layer systems using LFA. In the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) funded JRP 17IND11 Hi-TRACE project, the National Physical Laboratory is developing multi-layer reference artefacts, including both fully bonded and partially de-bonded systems for validating thermal characterisation of multi-layer systems at temperatures from room temperature to above 1000 °C using LFA. This paper details the methodology of production, measurement and validation of isotropic graphite and hafnium based multi-layer systems with, and without, partial debonding. Reproducibility, thermal stability and sensitive parameters concerning the thermal response of the artefacts will be discussed, with recommendation on the usage criteria as LFA multi-layer reference artefacts.

Efficiency calculation by Monte Carlo simulation for the rapidly-deployable spectrometric air-sampling system (MARE)

In order to get information about the concentration of gamma emitting radionuclides at ground level in case of a nuclear or radiological accident or incident, sampling devices have been designed in the framework of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) of the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) [1] financed Preparedness project. To fulfill its duty, the device must be properly calibrated in efficiency so as to relate spectra to activity concentration taking any modifying factor, such as coincidence summing correction, into account. Experimental approach to efficiency calibration is a prohibitively difficult task, so the Monte Carlo simulation method has been successfully adopted.

Absorption instruments inter-comparison campaign at the Arctic Pallas station

Abstract. Aerosol light absorption was measured during a 1-month field campaign in June–July 2019 at the Pallas Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) station in northern Finland. Very low aerosol concentrations prevailed during the campaign, which posed a challenge for the instruments' detection capabilities. The campaign provided a real-world test for different absorption measurement techniques supporting the goals of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) Black Carbon (BC) project in developing aerosol absorption standard and reference methods. In this study we compare the results from five filter-based absorption techniques – aethalometer models AE31 and AE33, a particle soot absorption photometer (PSAP), a multi-angle absorption photometer (MAAP), and a continuous soot monitoring system (COSMOS) – and from one indirect technique called extinction minus scattering (EMS). The ability of the filter-based techniques was shown to be adequate to measure aerosol light absorption coefficients down to around 0.01 Mm−1 levels when data were averaged to 1–2 h. The hourly averaged atmospheric absorption measured by the reference MAAP was 0.09 Mm−1 (at a wavelength of 637 nm). When data were averaged for >1 h, the filter-based methods agreed to around 40 %. COSMOS systematically measured the lowest absorption coefficient values, which was expected due to the sample pre-treatment in the COSMOS inlet. PSAP showed the best linear correlation with MAAP (slope=0.95, R2=0.78), followed by AE31 (slope=0.93). A scattering correction applied to PSAP data improved the data accuracy despite the added noise. However, at very high scattering values the correction led to an underestimation of the absorption. The AE31 data had the highest noise and the correlation with MAAP was the lowest (R2=0.65). Statistically the best linear correlations with MAAP were obtained for AE33 and COSMOS (R2 close to 1), but the biases at around the zero values led to slopes clearly below 1. The sample pre-treatment in the COSMOS instrument resulted in the lowest fitted slope. In contrast to the filter-based techniques, the indirect EMS method was not adequate to measure the low absorption values found at the Pallas site. The lowest absorption at which the EMS signal could be distinguished from the noise was >0.1 Mm−1 at 1–2 h averaging times. The mass absorption cross section (MAC) value measured at a range 0–0.3 Mm−1 was calculated using the MAAP and a single particle soot photometer (SP2), resulting in a MAC value of 16.0±5.7 m2 g−1. Overall, our results demonstrate the challenges encountered in the aerosol absorption measurements in pristine environments and provide some useful guidelines for instrument selection and measurement practices. We highlight the need for a calibrated transfer standard for better inter-comparability of the absorption results.

Measurements of water consumption for the development of new test regimes for domestic water meters

The reduction of water consumption and the technical developments of the last decades, such as the use of tap aerators, water-saving appliances or the use of electronic measuring principles for water consumption measurements at household level, lead to increased and novel demands on flow metering technology. Nowadays, the meters used must be able to detect less water volume with a constant meter size and constantly changing flows. This makes it necessary.to check whether the demanded measurement accuracy is maintained under these changed boundary conditions. Against this background, the question arises to what extent the existing test regimes to assess the measuring performance of water meters are still appropriate. In order to answer this question, it is necessary to set up a metrological infrastructure that will enable water meters to be tested close to real-world operation conditions. Therefore, the following paper focusses on flow dynamics within the water consumption at the household level. One key factor to realize a representative test regime are reliable and representative water consumption measurements at household level. Within the “Metrology for real-world domestic water metering” project (MetroWaMet) within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) water consumption measurements were carried out in different European countries. Based on the water consumption measurements discussed essential consumption characteristics can be derived in terms of amplitudes and amplitude distributions, gradients or durations. One important outcome of the study is that water consumption in the four different European countries is comparable. This means based on the available consumption data a generally applicable test regime can be derived which can be extended if necessary. The guide developed regarding the planning and carrying out of consumption measurements can be used to collect further reliable and representative consumption data.

Calibration of non‐catching precipitation measurement instruments: A review

AbstractNon‐catching type gauges are the emerging class of in situ precipitation measurement instruments. For these instruments, rigorous testing and calibration are more challenging than for traditional gauges. Hydrometeors characteristics like particle size, shape, fall velocity and density must be reproduced in a controlled environment to provide the reference precipitation, instead of the equivalent water flow used for catching‐type gauges. They are generally calibrated by the manufacturers using internal procedures developed for the specific technology employed. No agreed methodology exists, and the adopted procedures are rarely traceable to internationally recognized standards. The EURAMET project 18NRM03 ‘INCIPIT’ on ‘Calibration and accuracy of non‐catching instruments to measure liquid/solid atmospheric precipitation’, funded by the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR), was initiated in 2019 to investigate calibration and accuracy issues of non‐catching measuring instruments used for liquid/solid atmospheric precipitation measurement. A survey of the existing models of non‐catching type instruments was initially performed and this paper provides an overview and a description of their working principles and the adopted calibration procedures. Both literature works and technical manuals disclosed by manufacturers are summarized and discussed, while current limitations and metrological requirements are identified.

Re-investigation of the Normal Spectral Emissivity at 684.5 nm of Solid and Liquid Molybdenum

In this work, we present normal spectral emissivity data of solid and liquid molybdenum at a wavelength of 684.5 nm. The presented results are novel measurements on molybdenum, a material, which was already measured 15 years ago by our group. The present results indicate a lower emissivity in the liquid phase. The novel measurements were done within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) project 17IND11 Hi-TRACE. The optimized measuring system is an ohmic pulse-heating apparatus combined with microsecond Division of Amplitude polarimetry.

Development of measurement and calibration techniques for dynamic pressures and temperatures (DynPT): background and objectives of the 17IND07 DynPT project in the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR)

This project has five specific objectives: To provide traceability for dynamic pressure and temperature through development of measurement standards and validated calibration procedures; To quantify the effects of influencing quantities on the response of dynamic pressure and temperature sensors, in order to determine the appropriate calibration procedures and measurement uncertainties for industrial measurements; To develop new measurement methods and sensors for measuring dynamic pressure and temperature in demanding industrial applications, and to demonstrate the improved accuracy and reliability obtained with those; To validate all of the methods and sensors developed in this project through demonstrations in selected industrial applications; and To ensure by close engagement with industry, that the developed calibration and measurement techniques and technology are adopted by them. The challenge is that in many industrial applications pressure and temperature measurements are performed under dynamically changing conditions. The aim of this project is to improve the accuracy and reliability of pressure and temperature measurements in these challenging conditions. A European joint research project named Development of measurement and calibration techniques for dynamic pressures and temperatures (shortname DynPT) started in the summer 2018.

Calibration standards for hydrophones and autonomous underwater noise recorders for frequencies below 1 kHz: current activities of EMPIR “UNAC-LOW” project

The project entitled “UNderwater Acoustic Calibration standards for frequencies beLOW 1 kHz” (“UNAC-LOW”), currently active within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR), is presented by describing its objectives and current activities. The project aims at developing the metrological capacity of the European Union (EU) for the calibration of hydrophones and autonomous recording systems for the frequency range between 20 Hz and 1 kHz, for which traceability is presently not fully available. In this way, EU metrological capacities for absolute measurement of underwater sound will be improved, with a direct effect on the implementation of regulation and EU Directives that require underwater acoustic measurements to be traceable. After having completed the initial project tasks regarding the review of existing methods and the design of the experimental setups, comparison measurements between the project partners are currently under way and their results will be validated and presented upon project end after first quarter of 2019. To ensure long-term operation of the calibration capabilities by each partner, a coherent EU metrology strategy for underwater acoustics will be developed as one of the main project outcomes. Current activities include the implementation of the calibration setups developed in earlier stages of the project for both hydrophones and autonomous recorders. The methods that shall be used for hydrophones are the pressure method in a closed chamber and the standing wave tube method. For autonomous recorders, in addition to the above methods, calibrations will be performed using free-field methods in different open-water test sites possessing suitable characteristics for low frequency measurements.