Calibrated Leak of the Week: General Purpose Permeation (GPP) Calibrated Leak

Helium leak detectors power systems that are critical for everything from manufacturing to space exploration. Calibrating those leak detectors to find defects mere microns in size requires sensitive, reliable helium flow standards that technicians can tailor to specific leak rates.

Engineers at Vacuum Technology Incorporated (VTI) created their General Purpose Permeation (GPP) calibrated leak to provide plant managers, scientists, and technicians with a versatile helium leak standard well suited for a wide variety of applications. Manufactured at VTI’s A2LA-accredited calibration laboratory (Cert. #1707.01), the GPP can calibrate leak detectors to sense leaks as small as 10^-12 atm-cc/sec and as large as 10^-5 atm-cc/sec. The GPP’s glass permeation never clogs and maintains its accuracy for years at a time, which makes it particularly well suited for high-science vacuum systems. In addition to calibrating the GPP to any desired leak rate within its range, VTI’s calibration technicians can equip this leak standard with most outlet fittings.

“It’s a flexible tool. We have industrial customers who use this flow standard to build better products, and we have government customers who use it for research purposes,” said Joshua Carmichael, VTI’s Calibration Laboratory Supervisor.

VTI’s technicians calibrate every GPP leak against NIST-traceable standards, ensuring each leak matches customers’ target flow rates precisely. Not only does VTI build and refurbish its own product line of flow standards, but they also service any make or model of their competitors’ calibrated leaks.

“Customer service is our top priority. Regardless of whether or not you’re using a VTI calibrated leak, we want to make sure you have the tools you need to keep your vacuum systems operating at peak efficiency,” said Jonathan Amos, a Calibration Technician at VTI.

VTI is the world’s single largest supplier of calibrated leaks, providing flow standards to hundreds of companies, universities, and governments across the globe. The GPP is only one of the many models of leak standards VTI manufactures at its facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

“The GPP is appropriate for calibrating all kinds of helium leak detectors, and it’s had a long history of success with our customers around the world,” said Carmichael.