INM LABORATORIES

• MECANICAL QUANTITIES LABORATORY   

Laboratory Head: PHD. Eng. Narcis UDREA

Mobile: 0726369271

The MECHANICAL QUANTITIES LABORATORY includes the following groups:

• MASS Group
• PRESSURE Group
• FLOW QUANTITIES LABORATORY
• FORCE and HARDNESS GROUP

MASS GROUP

Main activities:

• Preservation, maintenance and use of the national mass measurement standard, the National Prototype Kilogram no. 2.
• Dissemination of the mass unit from the National Prototype of the Kilogram to the reference standards and further down to working standards, between 1 mg and 1000 kg.
• Preservation, maintenance and use of the reference standard for the hectoliter mass (the bulk density of cereals).
• Realization and dissemination of the hectoliter mass unit for cereals.
• Research for the development of the national and reference measurement standards and to ensure the traceability to the SI units and in the field of mass metrology.
• Preparing written standards, technical norms and procedures used in the calibration, verification and testing in the field of mass metrology.
• Participating in international comparisons measurements.
• Participating in national inter-laboratory comparisons.
• Performing tests as part of type evaluation and pattern evaluation for mass measures (weights), weighing instruments and instruments measuring the hectoliter mass.
• Cooperation with other Romanian institutions and similar institutes from abroad.
• Consultancy and training on issues related to the theory and practice of measurements.

Mass. The Prototype of the Kilogram.

Mass is one of the fundamental quantities of mechanics. The notion of mass is closely related to the notion of matter, as mass is one of the fundamental characteristics of matter.

Mass can be defined as a scalar magnitude that measures the inertia of bodies.

In the International System of Units, the unit of measurement for mass is the kilogram. It is defined as "the mass of the International Prototype of the Kilogram" and was adopted as the unit of measurement for mass by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1889.

The International Prototype of the Kilogram is kept at the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM), at Sèvres, near Paris, France, and is made of a platinum (90%) and iridium (10%) alloy. It has a density of approximately 21,500 kg/m3 and is shaped as a cylinder, with height and diameter equal to 39 mm.

Romania has the "National Prototype Kilogram no. 2", issued by the General Conference of Measures and Weights in 1891. It is kept by the National Institute of Metrology and serves as a reference for the entire activity of disseminating the mass unit in the country.

The National Prototype Kilogram no. 2 is periodically calibrated at the International Bureau for Weights and Measures (BIPM), thus ensuring its traceability to the SI.

The 1 kg mass comparator

In order to compare the 1kg reference measurement standards with the National Prototype Kilogram, we use an automated mass comparator of 1 kg, with resolution 1 µg and repeatability less than 2 µg.

The comparator is connected to an installation that monitors air pressure, temperature and humidity that enables a very accurate determination of air density and to make corrections for the buoyancy effect.

Hectolitre mass of cereals
As all natural products (influenced by the soil, the atmospheric conditions, the storing method), cereals have an infinity of varieties, which can be discerned by visual aspect, by touch, smell, taste, etc. One of the scientific methods for the determination of cereals quality is by measuring their hectolitre mass (bulk density).

Determining the hectolitre mass of the cereals is a rather complicated procedure, as it needs to determine the mass of a quantity of cereals, consisting of a large number of grains, which must always be laid the same way in order to occupy the same volume. This requirement is hard to meet, as the same quantity of cereals can occupy a larger or smaller volume, depending on how the grains settle in the measuring vessel. The issue was solved in the cereal weighing machine, using measuring vessels with standardized shape and size and using a special method for filling the vessel, so that the grains are uniformly laid.

The hectoliter mass of cereals is by definition the mass of that amount of grain required to fill a specified receptacle. This depends not only on the intrinsic quality of the considered cereals, but also on their hydrometric state, on the capacity, size and shape of the container used to measure their volume, and on how it is filled.

The Romanian measurement standard for the hectoliter mass of cereals is the measurement standard 20-liter cereals weighing machine, which serves as a reference for the entire dissemination of this unit in Romania.

International cooperation

Performing tests as part of type evaluations and pattern evaluations

The Mass group performs tests within the type evaluations and pattern evaluations of measuring means for mass, in accordance with the following norms, international recommendations and standards:

• International Recommendation OIML R111 – for mass measures (weights).
• Governmental Decree HG 617 from 2003, standard SR EN 45501, International Recommendation OIML R76 – for Nonautomatic weighing instruments
• International Recommendation OIML R50 – for Continuous totalizing automatic weighing instruments (belt weighers).
• International Recommendation OIML R51 – for Automatic catchweighing instruments
• International Recommendation OIML R61, Norm of Legal Metrology NML 3-08-97 – for Automatic gravimetric filling instruments
• International Recommendation OIML R106 – for Automatic rail-weighbridges.
• International Recommendation OIML R107 – for Discontinuous totalizing automatic weighing instruments (totalizing hopper weighers)
• International Recommendation OIML R134 – for Automatic instruments for weighing road vehicles in motion.
• International Recommendation OIML R15, standard SR ISO 7971-2, norm NTM 3-04-76 – for Instruments for measuring the hectoliter mass of cereals

Personnel, positions and contact details:

Eng. George Florian POPA, Deputy Director , tel. (004021) 334.48.30 ext. 178; mobile: 0726369483;
e-mail: popa@inm.ro, georgefpopa@yahoo.com

Eng. Sorin NEAGU, tel. (004021) 3344830 / 178; mobile: 0727848157;
e-mail: sorin.neagu@inm.ro

PRESSURE Group

National standard of pressure

Reference standards

Metrological services

Pressure department perform calibrations for following types of apparatus;

• piston gauges
• pressure calibrators
• manometers with elastic sensing elements and high accuracy
• pressure transducers of high accuracy
• aneroide barometers
• micomanovacuummeters with liquid, with compensation
• low and high absolute pressure manometers
• helium permeation leaks
• every any type of pressure apparatus

Proving the traceability of the SI and measurement capabilities.

Pressure department assures and can prove the traceability of the SI by the calibrations of its standards at PTB – Germany and by the participation in the international comparisons organized by EURAMET and COOMET.

In the Pressure department the pressure unit is disseminate from the national standard to the reference standards and from the last ones to the client standards.

The measurement capabilities are presented in Table 1.

Personnel, positions and contact details:

Eng. Ionuț ROȘU, tel. 021 3344830 / 173; mobile: 0727848273;
e-mail: ionut.rosu@inm.ro

Eng. Bogdan MANOLE, tel. 021 3344830 / 148; mobile: 0727848132;
e-mail: bogdan.manole@inm.ro

FLOW QUANTITIES LABORATORY

FORCE and HARDNESS GROUP

Main Activities:

• Utilization, conservation, and improvement of national force standard, in accordance with the Romanian laws in the field of metrology.
• Assignment of values for lower order standards in the field of force measurements
• Ensuring traceability of measurements of the force to the International System of Units (SI)
• Utilization, conservation, and improvement of reference force and hardness standards
• Calibration of force and hardness measuring instruments.

Metrological Services:
Calibration for the following measuring instruments:

• Force calibration machines: deadweight, lever and hydraulic amplification, comparison with reference transducers
• Force proving instruments utilized for calibration of force indication systems of testing machines
• Standard and working force proving instruments
• Transducers for force measurements
• Testing machines (force indication systems of testing machines)
• Torque measuring instruments and transducers
• Measuring systems for verification of brake systems of the vehicles
• Hardness standard machines (for Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers methods)
• Hardness standard blocks (for Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers methods)
• Hardness testing machines (for Brinell, Rockwell and Vickers methods)

Metrological expertise in the areas of force and hardness measurement.

National Force Standard National force standard consists of Three deadweight force standard machines. Main technical and metrological characteristics of the machines that are in composition of national force standard are given in Table 1.

Reference Standards

The main force and hardness reference standards are presented in Table 2.

Traceability and Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMC)

Laboratories provide traceability to SI units as follows:

• force measurements in the interval [0,01 ...100 000] N, traceability to the national standards of mass, length and time
• force measurements in the interval [100 ...3 000] kN, traceability to PTB Germany
• torque measurements in the interval [0,1 ... 2 000] N·m, traceability to the national standards of mass, length and time
• hardness measurements, traceability to the national standards of mass, length and time

Calibration and measurement capabilities are given in Table 3.

Contact

Address:

300 187 Timisoara, 64 Crizantemelor St. fax 0256.294086, tel. 0256.494189

• DIMENSIONAL AND AUV MEASUREMENTS LABORATORY
• MECANICAL QUANTITIES LABORATORY
• ELECTROMAGNETICAL MEASUREMENTS LABORATORY
• TEMPERATURE AND OPTICAL QUANTITIES LABORATORY
• PHYSICO-CHEMICAL QUANTITIES LABORATORY