We are delighted to announce that the optimus red and optimus green sound level meters have been Type Approved by the PTB in Germany!
The Class 1 CR:171 (optimus green) and Class 1 CR:161 (optimus red) sound level meters have been type approved by the PTB to the latest standards for sound level meters, DIN EN 61672, which is the same as IEC 61672.
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the German National Metrology Institute and is recognised as one of the most prestigious national test laboratories in the world.
After a series of long and detailed tests, which include both electrical and acoustic verification, approval numbers have been issued for the Class 1 optimus green and optimus red instruments as follows:
CR:161A, CR:161B & CR:161C
CR:1710, CR:171A & CR:171B
The approval numbers are:
21.21 / 12.02 for the CR:171 series (CR:1710, CR:171A & CR:171B)
21.21 / 12.03 for the CR:161 series (CR:161A, CR:161B & CR:161C)
The standards that were used in the verification were:
DIN EN 61672-1: 2003-10: Elektroakustik Schallpegelmesser Teil 1: Anforderungen
DIN EN 61672-2: 2004-08: Elektroakustik Schallpegelmesser Teil 2: Baumusterpr fungen
DIN 45657: 2005-03: Schallpegelmesser Zusatzanforderungen besondere Messaufgaben
What is Type Approval?
Type Approval, or Pattern Approval, is a method where a test laboratory such as the PTB tests an instrument against a set of standard tests to ensure that it meets the performance claims of the manufacturer.
The optimus sound level meters have been designed to meet the requirements of IEC 61672 (and the corresponding EN and DIN standards) and so these independent test have been carried out to verify that that the instruments do indeed meet these requirements. The IEC 61672 standard is in three parts.
The first of these is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 1: Specifications and this defines the performance specifications for the instruments.
Part 2 is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 2: Pattern evaluation tests and this defines the tests and checks that a laboratory must carry out when they are testing an instrument for Type or Pattern approval. These are the tests that the PTB have been carrying out on the optimus sound level meters.
Part 3 is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 3: Periodic tests and this defines the tests that should be carried out during a Periodic or routine verification.
This post has more information about the different sections of the IEC 61672 standard.
