Flow Meter Calibration & Laboratory Services
NIST-traceable flow meter calibration for liquid and gas systems, in-house and through trusted lab partners
PFS provides a full range of flow meter calibration services for liquid and gas applications, using both our in-house lab and trusted third-party facilities. For many projects, we work with Verdantas Research Lab (formerly Alden) and Utah Water Research Lab.
We also offer water flow calibration for line sizes up to 8” NPS in our in-house calibration laboratory. Our lab uses master meters and Rosemount transmitters traceable to NIST, with flow rates up to 500 GPM. This capability supports calibration of differential producers as well as most other meter types, and it allows us to validate new designs and challenging applications without relying solely on outside labs that can add time and cost.
PFS also partners with other calibration labs to offer CFD (Computational Fluid dynamics) analysis where the application may either be too large for a full-scale calibration or to improve the accuracy of an existing flow application without having to remove or build a model of the meter and piping for an actual flow calibration.
Contact us for more information on services, certifications, and regulatory compliance
Verdanta Lab achieves a high Reynolds number and a low level of uncertainty.
Water to the Verdanta (formerly known as Alden) facility is supplied from a 200,000 gallon sump that is typically heated to 105°F, but can reach temperatures up to 120°F when needed. Since kinematic viscosity is a strong function of water temperature, they can achieve a high Reynolds number simply by reducing the water’s viscosity by heating the water.
Depending on meter style and pipe size, the facility’s maximum flow is about 20,000 GPM, with a minimum flow of 0.05 GPM. The accredited uncertainty of the Allen facility is less than 0.10% for flows from 1 to 20,000 GPM.
The Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL)
The Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL) at Utah State University has been a leader in water and environmental research for over 50 years. It is the oldest and one of the largest university-based water research facilities in the United States and is considered one of the most respected facilities of its kind.
Flow meter testing capabilities include flow meter sizes from 1/8-inch to 78-inches in diameter. Weight tanks can receive flows up to 22,000 gpm. Maximum flow rate through our largest master Venturi flow meter exceeds 100,000 gpm with handling capabilities up to 40,000 lbs.
Flow meter calibrations at the UWRL use National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable instrumentation and have met stringent nuclear safety testing requirements. The size of the UWRL hydraulics laboratory gives us the capability to simulate actual metering installations to ensure the most accurate calibration possible.