Dictionary · Instruments
Rated operating condition
An operating condition that must be fulfilled during measurement for an instrument to perform as designed — the environmental and use envelope the specs assume.
Related terms
More from Instruments
Detection limit
The measured value, obtained by a given procedure, for which the probability of falsely claiming absence of a component is β, given a probability α of falsely claiming its presence — the statistically honest "smallest amount we can claim to see".
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.18
Blank indication
The indication obtained from a phenomenon, body, or substance similar to the one under investigation but for which the quantity of interest is supposed absent or not contributing — the analytical chemist's blank, generalized.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.2
Nominal indication interval
The set of values, bounded by rounded or approximate extreme indications, obtainable with a particular setting of the controls and used to designate that setting — the "0–100 V range" on a meter switch.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.4
Measuring transducer
A device, used in measurement, that provides an output quantity having a specified relation to the input quantity — a thermocouple, a load cell, a pressure-to-current converter.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 3.7
Dead band
The maximum interval through which the value of the quantity being measured can be changed in both directions without producing a detectable change in indication — hysteresis's operational signature.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 4.17
Scale of a displaying measuring instrument
The part of a displaying instrument consisting of an ordered set of marks with associated quantity values.
VIM (JCGM 200:2012) 3.5