KISTERS’ TB340A is a fully automated laboratory calibration and test bench for a wide selection of tipping bucket rain gauges differing in type, make, shape and size. Thoughtful system design, quality hardware components and professional software development provide the reliabilityand overall quality of the TB340A. The autonomous calibration bench is software controlled and thereby allows for fast, well documented and repeatable testing, and does not require particular user attendance.

Load-cell technology makes the system less vulnerable to ambient influences: Water is delivered by mass (635 g) rather than volume, resulting in high accuracy and repeatability between test runs.

Hardware

The TB340A is a laboratory device. Two tipping bucket rain gauges can be calibrated simultaneously. The height-adjustable platform accommodates different shapes and sizes of rain gauges, with or without the funnel assembly attached.
An external control software supervises the built-in controller (Modbus-RTU compliant) to run rain gauge functional tests and calibrations. For instance, the software can instruct the controller to activate one out offive solenoid valves (fitted as standard with 25, 50, 100, 200, 300 mm/hr intensity nozzles). This allows the operator to select from 31 different intensity combinations covering a wide range of calibration standards.

Software

The TB340A’s Windows control software runs on standard PC hardware. By means of automating the entire test runs and thus reducing user interaction, the control software optimizes throughput. Better yet, the software controls multiple TB340A test benches daisy-chained on a serial RS-485 link via Modbus-RTU protocol.

The software controls the functional test/calibration runs regulating water supply, collecting and analyzing data, comparing results against specs and generating a detailed report. A campaign can consist of a single or a series of test runs, for instance to calibrate the gauge at different rain rates. For each individual test, the software stores the tip counts as it progresses. It will then compare the test data to the specified performance of the tipping bucket rain gauge and finally generate a report on successful completion of a test.

The TB340A is especially suitable for

• Lab calibration of tipping bucket rain gauges
• Tipping bucket rain gauge intercomparison