The triple point of water serves to define the kelvin, the unit of thermodynamic temperature, in the International System of Units (SI). Furthermore, it is the most important fixed point of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90). Any uncertainty in the realization of the triple point of water contributes directly to the measurement uncertainty over the wide temperature range from 13.8033 K to 1234.93 K.The Consultative Committee for Thermometry (CCT) decided at its 21st meeting in 2001 to carry out a comparison of water triple point cells and charged the BIPM with its organization.Water triple point cells from 20 national metrology institutes were carried to the BIPM and were compared with highest accuracy with two reference cells. The small day-to-day changes of the reference cells were determined by a least-squares technique. Prior to the measurements at the BIPM, the transfer cells were compared with the corresponding national references and therefore also allow comparison of the national references of the water triple point.This report presents the results of this comparison and gives detailed information about the measurements made at the BIPM and in the participating laboratories. It was found that the transfer cells show a standard deviation of 50 µK; the difference between the extremes is 160 µK. The same spread is observed between the national references.The most important result of this work is that a correlation between the isotopic composition of the cell water and the triple point temperature was observed. To reduce the spread between different realizations, it is therefore proposed that the definition of the kelvin should refer to water of a specified isotopic composition.The CCT recommended to the International Committee of Weights and Measures (CIPM) to clarify the definition of the kelvin in the SI brochure by explicitly referring to water with the isotopic composition of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW). The CIPM accepted this recommendation and the next edition of the SI brochure will include this specification.Main text. 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 kcdb.bipm.org/.The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCT, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA).
This is a summary of the Consultative Committee for Thermometry (CCT) Key Comparison CCT-K3, i.e. the comparison of realizations of the fixed points of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) over the range 83.8058 K to 933.473 K. The differences in the realizations of the various fixed points in this range of the ITS-90 and the uncertainties of those differences are given for the fifteen standards laboratories participating in the comparison.
Eutectic cells of Co/C and Ni/C for use in thermocouple calibration were manufactured and tested to investigate their melting and freezing characteristics using type B thermocouples. It was observed that the melting and freezing behaviour of Co/C and Ni/C systems are very similar. The freezing plateaus were found to be flatter than those of melting, but the melting points were closer to the ideal transition temperatures, which is an extrapolated value to zero temperature difference from the set temperature to induce melting/freezing, than the freezing points. Based on the observed results, the melting process is recommended for use when calibrating thermocouples.
An Au/Pt thermocouple having a gold-bridged junction instead of a Pt coil is fabricated and its thermoelectric properties are investigated at the Sn, Zn, Al, and Ag freezing points. Reproducibility is found to be excellent and standard deviation is as small as ±4 mK at the Ag fixed point. Immersion properties, which indicate homogeneity of the thermocouple wire, are also shown to be very good, with standard deviation estimated as about 10 mK. In order to investigate interchangeability, 20 sets of Au/Pt thermocouples are made and their emfs are measured at the same fixed points. Thermocouples from the same spool are reproducible within ±0.02 °C for the whole temperature range. For practical use of the Au/Pt thermocouple, an inverse function and a deviation function for calibration are proposed. The inverse function has two temperature ranges and is accurate within ±1 mK, while the deviation function is a third-order polynomial without a constant term. The Au/Pt thermocouple is stable at high temperatures for long periods. After 1500 h at 1000 °C, the thermal emf at the Ag fixed point is changed by about 0.9 μV (about 40 mK). After the other experiments, calibration uncertainties at the fixed points are evaluated. At the Ag fixed point, the maximum expanded uncertainty is calculated and is about ±30 mK at a confidence interval of 95%. It is shown that the gold-bridged Au/Pt thermocouple is reproducible, accurate, and stable. At present, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) uses Au/Pt thermocouples as secondary standard thermometers; they are supplied to industry as certified references.
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