27.10.2014
For the first time, the OIML Project Group "Dynamic Volume and Mass Measurement" has developed worldwide uniform test procedures and a uniform documentation of the respective test results for measuring systems for liquids other than water.
For Recommendation R 117 ("Dynamic measuring systems for liquids other than water"), so far only Part 1 ("Metrological and Technical Requirements") had been published in 2007. Due to the vast number and variety of instruments and facilities to be regulated in this document (including their very diverse conditions of use), the requirements for the elaboration of Parts 2 and 3 which are placed on the responsible OIML Project Group of TC8/SC3 – whose secretariat is jointly shared by Germany (PTB) and the USA (NIST) – were accordingly high. There was substantial need for coordination as, for the first time, worldwide agreement had to be achieved on uniform testing procedures and the uniform documentation of the corresponding test results for such a vast field. The drafts of both parts, which have now been completed, were adopted by the OIML member states represented in the Project Group with no opposing votes or abstentions, and will be made available to the International Committee on Legal Metrology (CIML) as "Draft Recommendation" for final approval at its next meeting in Auckland/New Zealand in November 2014.
After they have been approved, and after they have been published by the International Bureau of Legal Metrology (BIML), the path will be free to be able to issue – in future – globally valid and acknowledged certificates for the instruments and facilities for the volume and flow-rate measurement of liquids other than water, which are very important in commercial dealings. The modular set-up of the test procedures allows both the testing and the certification of the complete measuring systems dealt with in OIML R 117 (e.g. dispensing pumps for all types of fuel, measuring systems in pipelines, on road tankers, in terminals and for the fuelling of airplanes as well as for liquid foodstuff), but also the issuing of certificates for metrologically relevant components and auxiliary devices (gas separators, volume presetting devices, printing devices, self-service arrangements) etc.
In a next step, the implementation of further measuring systems (on bunker ships and for liquefied natural gas) and of requirements placed on software in legal metrology is envisaged.
Contact person:
Michael Rinker, Dept. 1.5, WG 1.51, E-mail: michael.rinker@ptb.de