Invited talk at the Proba2 Science Working Team Meeting 6, within the ESWW9. We have advanced the newly promoted N(t,h) model that gives the time-height profile of the D-region electron density during solar flares, confirming the height dependence of the local ionization efficiency. In relating the VLF amplitude and phase perturbations to the flare increased solar radiation we have run the N(t,h) model with the irradiance as measured on Proba2 by the LYRA radiometer (Zr channel 2-4: 6-20 nm +X ray) and compared the results for the D-region ceiling with the ones obtained by the traditionally used GOES(15) irradiance measurements in the 0.1-0.8 nm band. The analysis has been performed on the series of strong early March 2012 solar flares, for long paths NPM Hawai'i – Casey/ Scott Base , Antarctica. Good agreement between the pertaining enhanced electron densities at 90 km height indicates that in producing ionization, the lower local ionization efficiency of the EUV spectrum is compensated by the increased spectral irradiance.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 2604539Quantitative leak tests with vacuum technology have become an important tool in industry for safety and operational reasons and to meet environmental regulations. In the absence of a relevant key comparison, so far, there are no calibration measurement capabilities published in the BIPM data base. To enable national metrology institutes providing service for leak rate calibrations to apply for these entries in the data base and to ensure international equivalence in this field, key comparison CCM.P-K12 was organized. The goal of this comparison was to compare the national calibration standards and procedures for helium leak rates. Two helium permeation leak elements of 4×10−11 mol/s (L1) and 8×10−14 mol/s (L2) served as transfer standards and were measured by 11 national metrology institutes for L1 and 6 national metrology institutes for L2. Equivalence could be shown for 8 laboratories in the case of L1 and for all 6 in the case of L2. Three different evaluation methods were applied and are presented in this report, but the random effects model was accepted as most suitable in our case.
F.11 Development of a new service
Tightness of vacuum systems, different hermetically sealed devices and vacuum containers is very important not only in industrial applications but also from the viewpoint of environmental protection, health and safety, when vacuum containers are used for storage of harmful or dangerous substances. Tightness is tested with different types of leak detectors and among them He leak detectors are most sensitive. Calibration of leak detectors is important to assure traceable and accurate measurements. In 2012 we extended the scope of accreditation of our Pressure metrology laboratory for the field of calibration reference He leaks in the range from 8x10-16 mol/s to 2.5x10-10 mol/s. With the extension we joined the group of few European national metrology institutes which have this capability.
D.05 Laboratory accreditation
In 2012 IMT received a patent for the apparatus for determining the pumping speed of getter pumps with integgrated subassembly for calibrating the gas-flow. Apparatus consists of a subassembly for the throughput generation and a test chamber for the measurement of an equilibrium pressure at the inlet of a getter pump. The test chamber with an attached inert vacuum gauge (and the isolated getter pump) can be used as a calibration volume for an in-situ calibration of throughput using the pressure rise method instead of the standard throughput method. The maintenance of a constant throughput in the molecular flow regime is enabled by the selection of amount and pressure of a test gas and corresponding gas flow restriction elements, and the use of inert vacuum gauges for the establishment and calibration of a throughput as well as the measurement of an equilibrium pressure. There is a great advantage of using the same vacuum gauge for throughput calibration and measurement of equilibrium pressure above the getter, because the gauge calibration constant cancels out in sorption speed calculation. Another feature of the apparatus is determination of accumulation rate of nongeterable gasses in sealed volume, which can be done by measurement of a residual pressure of inert gases at temporal interruption of the gas throughput. Since there is interest from industrial sector for independent getter testing (currently from foreign companies in Austria and France), we are considering accreditation of this type of service also. In this respect the granted patent means very important reference for our laboratory.
F.33 Slovenian patent
COBISS.SI-ID: 946602Workshop was organized within the scope of Euramet EMRP JRP IND12 project "Vacuum metrology for production environments". Intention of the workshop was to bring together partners of EMRP IND12 project, users of QMS in industrial applications and manufacturers. Main aim of the workshop was that JRP Consortium gains information (i) about practical use of QMS instruments in industry and other fields, (ii) what are needs for traceability of these instruments in practical applications, and also (iii) how tdesigns of these instruments influence their metrological characteristics. This should help the JRP consortium to develop reasonable calibration scheme of quadrupole mass spectrometers. Program/steering committee was co-chaired by Janez Setina, IMT, Slovenia and Karl Jousten from PTB, Germany. Organization was performed by the program group at IMT (chair Janez Setina). Besides the fact that this was very specialized workshop it was very well attended. We had in total 38 participants. More than half of participants (22) were outside of the JRP IND-12 consortium. This means that we really archived the goal to interface consortium with outside users in industry and other research institutions. Workshop has also reached beyond the European borders: we had participants from Korea, Taiwan and USA. It was a three day workshop. We had three invited talks and 22 regular contributions. Program was divided into 4 technical sessions: 1) Physics, technology and metrological characteristics of QMS (invited speaker Jonathan. H. Batey, UK), 2) Applications of QMS, 3) Calibration of QMS in NMIs (invited speaker Hajime Yoshida, NMIJ, Japan), and 4) Calibration in situ in industry and elsewhere, (invited speaker Robert. E. Ellefson, USA). Each session finished with a moderated discussion on the presented materials. http://www.ptb.de/emrp/ws-ind12-home.html
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
COBISS.SI-ID: 25908519