Laboratory & Life Science

LEADING LABS TURN TO TIGER OPTICS

Tiger Optics is a standard bearer in a growing number of national metrology institutes around the globe. Since its first sale to the Dutch VSL in May, 2001, Tiger has gained acceptance at 22 leading organizations. Many of the institutes use Tiger instruments as a transfer standard to calibrate their own gas standards for research and industrial use. Some institutes also employ Tiger analyzers in their research of such problems as acid rain and global warming. Prized for their proven precision, excellent repeatability, and rapid throughput, as well as their extraordinary dynamic range (more than four orders of magnitude), Tiger’s CW-CRDS analyzers serve foremost institutes in the following nations:

AUSTRALIA — The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is one of the largest research institutions in the world, with over 6,500 staff in 53 locations around Australia and overseas.

BRAZIL — The Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalização e Qualidade Industrial (INMETRO) is the national metrology institute, responsible for standards, accreditation, qualification and quality approvals of industrial and consumer products.

CHINA — The Shanghai Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology (SIMT), a nonprofit national agency, conducts the transmission and traceability of measurement values for more than 600,000 pieces of measuring instruments each year.

FINLAND — The Centre for Metrology and Accreditation (MIKES) performs advanced research in metrology and measurement in addition to its work to ensure internationally accepted units of measurement. MIKES uses Tiger’s compact HALO for moisture analysis.

FRANCE — The National Laboratory of Metrology and Testing (LNE) in 2005 assumed the role of the National Bureau of Metrology and began coordinating the work of France's three other national metrology laboratories.

GERMANY — With 1,800 staff members and an annual budget of approximately 130 million Euros, the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), identifies metrology as its core competence.

INDIA — As India’s premier research laboratory in the field of physical sciences, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) counts calibration and testing among its core activities.

ITALY — The Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM) was formed by merger of two predecessor institutes in 2006 and is Italy’s national metrology institute.  In addition to realizing primary and derived standards under the International System of measurements, it performs research into basic physical constants and new, emerging technologies.

JAPAN — Funded largely by the Japanese government, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) operates more than 50 research units with about 2,500 scientists and 700 administrative staff.

MALAYSIA — SIRIM Berhad, a wholly-owned company of the Malaysian government, serves as that country’s national standards development agency. It coordinates the country’s participation in international standardization activities. SIRIM is one of the nine founding members of the Global Research Alliance.

THE NETHERLANDS — Formerly called NMi Van Swinden Laboratorium, VSL describes itself as a private company with a public task. Based in Delft, it is the national metrology institute of The Netherlands. Widely recognized as a leader in gas analysis, VSL hosts the triennial International Gas Analysis Symposiums, well attended by active members of the global gas community.

SINGAPORE — Established in 1975, the National Metrology Centre (NMC) of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR is the national measurement authority for the Republic of Singapore.  Tiger’s LaserTrace Duo for oxygen and moisture analysis is a key part of its new gas lab.

SOUTH AFRICA — In 2007, the National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA) assumed responsibility for the maintenance, traceability and dissemination of national standards to prove measurement comparability and equivalence with the international community.

SOUTH KOREA — Established in 1975, the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) is both the central authority of the national standards system and a client-oriented research institute in the Republic of Korea.

SPAIN — Founded in 1942, the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA, English: National Institute of Aerospace Technology) has evolved considerably in the role of supporting Spanish industrial metrology since its formation in 1942. Headquartered in Torrejón de Ardoz, near Madrid, INTA was created to support those national industries that set up quality assurance systems, mainly in the aeronautical, energy and petrochemical sectors, and also acted as the Reference Laboratory for the Industrial Calibration System (SCI) in five of the ten measurement areas accredited.

SWITZERLAND — Tracing its origins to 1875, the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) promulgates the Swiss legal time, provides internationally recognized measurement units, and compares its standards with those of other national metrology institutes. It also researches the impact of new technologies and develops viable measurement methods that reflect the latest scientific knowledge.

THAILAND — The National Institute of Metrology (NIM Thailand) began providing calibration services on January 4, 1999.

TAIWAN — The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) is a nonprofit R&D organization in Taiwan engaging in applied research and technical services. Founded in 1973, ITRI has been dedicated to establishing and maintaining national measurement standards. The Center also does R&D on instrumentation and sensing, smart sensing, medical device evaluation, and energy and environment metrology.

TURKEY — TUBITAK UME operates as the national standards body, promulgating metrology standards and ensuring traceability to SI units.

UNITED KINGDOM — Established in 1900, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) develops and maintains the nation’s primary measurement standards. It is currently a government-owned, contractor-operated entity. The NPL conducted a year-long comparison of 13 different analyzers and found Tiger Optics offered the fastest and most linear, accurate, and repeatable performance of all. The study is available here.

UNITED STATES — Founded in 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a federal agency committed to the advancement of measurement science, standards and technology. The agency employs about 2,900 scientists, engineers, technicians and support or administrative personnel.  NIST developed the world’s first moisture generator (the Low Frost Point Generator) capable of reliable performance below 5 parts per billion.

INTERNATIONAL — The mission of the Paris-based Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) is to ensure world-wide uniformity of measurements and their traceability to the International System of Units (SI).

 

INTERCOMPARISON — Four of these institutes determined to compare the output of their moisture standards generators in an international comparison. A Tiger LaserTrace and HALO journeyed around the world during a three-year study, spending time at NIST, NPL, PTB, AIST and back to NIST again.  For the first time, these laboratories were able to quantify the comparability of their standards, which proved to be excellent over the full range of measured values.  Tiger’s units received no service or maintenance during the study, and showed deviation of less than 2% through nearly four years of work. Full details of the inter-comparison can be found in the final report entitled EURAMET 1002: International comparability in measurements of trace water vapour, P J Brewer, M J T Milton, P M Harris, S A Bell, M Stevens, G Scace, H Abe and P Mackrodt, published in June 2011. See http://www.npl.co.uk/publications.