Performance of the Fuel Conditioning Facility electronic in-cell mass balances

摘要

An approach to error estimation and measurement control in the analysis of the balance measurements of mass standards on the in-cell electronic mass balances of the Fuel Conditioning Facility is presented. In light of measurement data from one year of operation, the algorithms proposed are evaluated. The need to take into account the effects of facility operations on the estimates of measurement uncertainty is demonstrated. In the case of a newly installed balance, where no historical data exists, an ad hoc procedure of adding a term which takes into account the operational variability is proposed. This procedure allows a sufficiently long operation so as to collect data for the estimate of the contribution of operational effects to the uncertainty estimate. An algorithm for systematically taking into account historical data is developed and demonstrated for two balances over two calibration periods. The algorithm, both asymptotically and in the two samples cases, has the necessary desirable properties for estimating the uncertainty in the measurements of the balances.