Introduction
Analytical instruments are an essential part of every laboratory. They are used to measure the concentration of substances, their mass and volume and other parameters in samples.
Calibration and service maintain the accuracy of your instruments by ensuring that they have been set up correctly, operate properly and produce reliable results. Both calibration and service are critical to maintaining accurate measurements from your analytical instruments or any other device used for measurement or analysis. Without calibration, it is impossible to know if you are getting accurate readings from your instrument or not.
Laboratory analytical instruments are essential for the success of your laboratory, and their maintenance is essential for the ongoing health of your business. Instrument service and calibration ensure that you maintain a high standard of accuracy and reliability.
Service includes much more than calibration: it also involves repair and replacement parts, cleaning, preventive maintenance procedures, training on proper usage, scheduled visits from technicians or engineers to check up on equipment performance, etc. Having an instrument serviced regularly is important because it can prevent breakdowns that would otherwise affect productivity if repairs take too long to complete. This may mean that less time spent on solving problems means more time spent analyzing samples!
Why do you need to calibrate your instrument?
Calibration is a process to verify the accuracy of an instrument. It’s recommended that you calibrate your instruments annually, as it ensures they remain accurate over time.
But what exactly is “accuracy”? An instrument can be accurate if it gives results that are consistent and reliable. For example, when we measure the weight of an object with a scale we typically want it to give us the same answer every time we use it. If measuring weight was a guessing game where sometimes our guess is right and sometimes it is wrong, then we would have an inaccurate scale!
Another important factor in determining whether or not an instrument is accurate is how sensitive it is; this means how much change there will be from one measurement to another at different points within their range (the highest reading minus the lowest reading). Some instruments can only measure small changes due to their poor sensitivity while others can measure large changes because they're very sensitive—and so good for certain applications!
What does it mean to 'calibrate' an instrument?
Calibration is the process of making sure that an instrument is giving accurate and reliable measurements. The most common type of calibration is when you compare a measurement from your instrument against a known standard. For example, if you want to calibrate your blood pressure cuff on the correct size for your arm and body size, you would compare its reading with readings taken using a stethoscope or another device such as a sphygmomanometer (a device used specifically for measuring blood pressure). This can be done by using two devices simultaneously or sequentially: first measure your blood pressure with one device then use another one immediately afterwards to see how close they were in their readings.
Calibration needs to be done on an ongoing basis because instruments can become misaligned over time due to wear-and-tear or mishandling during operation (i.e., when transporting them). It's important to know what kind of instrumentation was used during calibration because different instruments require different calibration methods!
What does it mean to 'service' an instrument?
The term 'service' is used in a broad sense, including calibration and other activities. The following list includes some typical service activities:
- Cleaning the instrument's exterior surfaces and any exposed internal parts.
- Inspecting the instrument for wear or damage. If necessary, replacing worn components with new ones (for example, a worn needle).
- Testing the functionality of all control mechanisms that can be operated manually (such as transfer switches).
Service includes much more than calibration.
- Service includes much more than calibration.
- It includes cleaning, repair, and replacement of parts.
- Service also includes training of personnel. You can have all the best equipment in the world but if your people are not well trained, it will not work as well as it should.
- Service also includes troubleshooting problems that occur in the field with a customer's machine or system and finding solutions to those problems. This may include changing a part or adjusting some settings on a machine or system to make sure it works properly again after an issue has occurred with one of its components or subsystems such as its sensors (temperature/pressure).
Calibration and service are critical to maintaining accurate, reliable measurements from your analytical instruments.
Calibration and service are critical to maintaining accurate, reliable measurements from your analytical instruments. Calibration is the process of measuring and recording the performance of an instrument. Service is the process of adjusting and repairing an instrument so that it will continue to perform accurately over time. These processes occur on a frequent basis—often daily or weekly—in order to ensure that all measurements taken by your instrument are accurate, repeatable and reliable.
Conversely, if calibration and service are not performed regularly, then measurement results can become inaccurate or unreliable very quickly due to drift in performance as well as wear on components such as pumps and sensors.
Conclusion
The two most important words to remember are "calibration" and "service." Your instruments need to be calibrated regularly, and they will need servicing on a regular basis as well. Calibration ensures that the instrument is measuring its intended range of values accurately, while service checks for worn parts or damaged components that could affect accuracy in some way. Both calibration and service ensure that your instruments remain up-to-date and functional—and don't forget about repair!
