Deadweight tester

A dead weight tester apparatus uses weights to apply pressure to a fluid for checking the accuracy of readings from a pressure gauge.

A dead weight tester (DWT) is a calibration standard method that uses a piston cylinder on which a load is placed to make an equilibrium with an applied pressure underneath the piston.

Deadweight testers are secondary standards which means that the pressure measured by a deadweight tester is defined through other quantities: length, mass and time.

Typically deadweight testers are used in to calibrate pressure measuring devices.

The formula on which the design of a DWT is based basically is expressed as follows : where : [1] In general there are three different kind of DWT's divided by the medium which is measured and the lubricant which is used for its measuring element :