Rangeabilit y ( Tur ndown)

The Range-ability or Turn-down of an ins trum ent is defined as the ratio of the m axim um to the m inim um s pecified m eas ured values at which the ins trum ent has an acceptable perform ance. In the exam ple it is as s um ed that the ins trum ent has a s pecified accuracy of 0.5% of Full Scale. If the lim it on the acceptable perform ance is 4% of reading then the range-ability of the ins trum ent is lim ited to 8 to 1 (i.e. 4% of reading accuracy occurs at 12.5% of full s cale). However if an accuracy of 5% of reading were acceptable, the range-ability of the ins trum ent would be increas ed to 10 to 1. If the perform ance of the ins trum ent is highly repeatable but not neces s arily linear, the output can often be conditioned to increas e range ability by the us e of techniques s uch as dual- or m ultiranging. It m us t be rem em bered that the im pact of independent variables can als o s erious ly affect the linearity and range-ability of an ins trum ent. A good exam ple is the lim iting effect that the m inim um acceptable vis cos ity of the m eas ured fluid has on the range-ability of a differential-pres s ure type flow-m eter. With ins trum ents us ed for accounting or cos ting purpos es range-ability and accuracy are generally of m os t im portance. With ins trum ents us ed for control purpos es generally their repeatability is far m ore im portant than range-ability.

Analogue Process Control Services is a division of NESS Corporation

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