Best practices 2026
Vacuum gauge - Working Group 7.54 of PTB
The working group operates four primary standards for the realisation of the pressure scale in the vacuum regime from 10-9 Pa to 103 Pa and the scale of small gas flows in the range from 10-14 mol/s to 4×10-9 mol/s. By these primary standards vacuum gauges and reference leaks are calibrated for many international clients. The research activities focus on the improvement of the realisation and dissemination of the pressure scale in the vacuum regime as well as on traceable outgassing and leak rate measurements.
Since 2020, an automated workflow has been established for the calibration process and the generation of digital calibration certificates (both machine-readable and human-readable). More than 600 DCCs have been issued ever since.
Digitalisation and DCC
Two of the four standards are integrated into a digital workflow that allows for an automated readout of the calibration data and the transfer to the DCC creation process. The locally developed software is able to create machine-readable and interpretable XML-DCCs and at the same time creates a human-readable PDFs.
With the help of web applications, the calibration document is filled with administrative, customer, measurement, and evaluation data by the working group's employees. Forms such as calibration certificates, shipping orders, etc. can thus be generated. The “digital calibration certificate” (DCC) issued by the laboratory is created on the basis of calibration documents hosted in NoSQL database.
The measuring devices, measurement sequences, and calibration documents are automatically controlled or created in the laboratory database.
National and International Cooperation
- BIPM: Consultative Committee for Mass and Related Quantities (CCM) - Working Group for pressure and vacuum (WG PV)
- ISO: Technical committee (TC) 112 (Vacuum Technology) / International standardization
- DIN (German Standardization Body): Committee for vacuum technology
- German Vacuum Society